Go, Padilla ask SC: Restore 16-vote rule

Senators Christopher “Bong” Go and Robin Padilla, along with the PDP Laban, lawyers, and private citizens, have asked the Supreme Court (SC) to restore the 16-vote threshold for conviction in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

In a petition filed on Tuesday, the group sought a status quo ante order and/or temporary restraining order to overturn the 23 September ruling of the Senate impeachment court that lowered the required number of votes to convict to two-thirds of the senators present and actively participating in the trial.

The petitioners argued that Article XI, Section 3(6) of the Constitution requires the concurrence of “two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate,” or 16 of 24 senators, rather than two-thirds of those present and participating.

The petition also sought to overcome the procedural grounds cited by the SC in dismissing three earlier challenges to the voting threshold on 30 September — lack of legal standing, or locus standi, and prematurity.

The earlier petitions were filed by private lawyers Vic Rodriguez, Berteni Causing and Ernesto Francisco Jr. The High Court ruled that they had no direct, personal, or material interest in the Senate’s internal rule and the challenge was premature because the impeachment trial was ongoing.

Go and Padilla argued that, as sitting senator-judges in the impeachment court, they have a distinct and substantial interest because the rule change directly affects their constitutional duties and voting power.