Luistro hopes SC settles threshold issue comes before Senate vote

Lead public prosecutor and Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro on Thursday expressed hope for the Supreme Court to resolve the issue pertaining to the impeachment threshold before the Senate decides whether to convict or acquit Vice President Sara Duterte.

Confronted with a scenario where the high court issues a resolution after the Senate’s ruling, the lawmaker said that it would be “very chaotic” given the fact that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. will have to immediately decide on Duterte’s predecessor.

“I can only say that, hopefully, if the Supreme Court decides it would be after the verdict so that we can avoid that consequence. We have to understand that a conviction has serious consequences,” Luistro said in an interview on ANC’s Headstart.

Building on her point, Luistro explained that a conviction for the Vice President entailed that she would be removed from office and would no longer be allowed to hold any form of public office in the future.

The decision would be particularly jarring if Duterte was impeached in accordance with the newly adopted ruling of the Senate which stresses that only the senators who participate in the trial will be considered in the constitutionally mandated two-thirds threshold.

Going by that consideration, the threshold for conviction drops to 14 with only 20 senators actively participating in the constitutional proceedings.

The four senators who have been non-participant in the proceedings either entirely or for an extended period of time are Senator Loren Legarda, Senator Rodante Marcoleta, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, and Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa—absent from the trial for varying circumstances.

Luistro, for her part, said that it was still their persistent hope that if the Senate does decide to convict

Duterte, it would be through a total vote of 16 in order for the petitions to be rendered moot.

“It is our hope that if there was a conviction, hopefully it is 16. We hope it is 16 so that the issue which is now submitted to the Supreme Court, to my mind, will appear to be moot and academic already,” Luistro stated.

“As a matter of fact, I can say that there’s a possibility that the petition is dismissed on the ground of mootness if the conviction [vote] is 16,” she added.

Senate has discretion on threshold

Despite the matter being forwarded to the Supreme Court, the lawmaker said that it was still her belief that it was the Senate that had the sole prerogative to determine how it exercises its exclusive power to conduct an impeachment in accordance with the Constitution.

In making the claim, Luistro explained that there was a legal principle known as the “doctrine of political question” which entails that Congress being granted with a particular function under Philippine law are provided with the discretionary authority.

The doctrine prevents courts from interfering with the regular work of the legislative, without withholding the fact that a branch of government could still be investigated for allegations of grave abuse of discretion which amounts to a lack or excess of jurisdiction.

“It is clear in the Constitution that the Senate shall have the exclusive power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. Questions pertaining to the threshold, to our opinion, exclusively belong to that power of the Senate,” Luistro said.

“Having said so, the other branches of the government have no reason or power to intervene in such matters,” she added.

Amid the continued legal controversies and questions pertaining to the issue, Luistro admitted that since the matter was concerned with the interpretation of law, it was similarly her belief that the Supreme Court had the exclusive power for that regard.

Luistro said that their group had forwarded a comment to the petition to the High Court.