Senate tackles today VP impeachment vote threshold

MANILA, Philippines — Senators are expected to go into caucus today in an attempt to resolve the question on the conviction threshold for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.

This comes after the amici curiae (friends of the court) voiced their expert opinions on the matter last week.

Sen. JV Ejercito said the closed-door meeting today would map out whether the dispute over presiding officer Francis Escudero’s ruling would require a vote among senator-judges or if it can be settled through a consensus among the members.

Following the caucus, the Senate impeachment court is scheduled to hear oral arguments from the prosecution and defense panels on Wednesday regarding the disputed voting base.

While Escudero announced earlier that a vote would commence after the oral arguments, Ejercito said he planned to request a deferral of the vote to give senators adequate time to study the constitutional arguments presented by both sides and the amici curiae.

“I will ask for a few days just to absorb this, so that it can be studied, because first of all, I’m not a lawyer. I’ll ask for time so I can absorb all arguments,” Ejercito told radio dzBB yesterday.

Despite this, Ejercito agreed that the Senate should resolve the threshold dispute relatively early in the trial rather than deferring it until judgment day.

Last week, former chief justice Artemio Panganiban, speaking as amicus curiae, said the Senate may skip its vote to resolve the forthcoming deadlock on the “16” voting threshold to convict Vice President Duterte if Escudero simply “changes his mind” and reverses his initial ruling.

Escudero, however, rejected the idea and argued that it would only invite further delays and appeals from the floor.

Panganiban, as well as fellow former chief justices Reynato Puno and Hilario Davide all maintained that the two-thirds threshold to convict Duterte is not fixed at 16 of the 24 senators, saying the decision ultimately lies with the Senate.

Several members of the Senate minority expressed their opposition to a lowered voting threshold.

“If we will revise and vote anew on the threshold, why didn’t we first revise our own rules in order to defend the right of our (absent) members to be able to join the (impeachment) proceedings?” Sen. Robinhood Padilla asked.

Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, meanwhile, warned of a mistrial if the court changes its rules mid-trial.

“I don’t want to have a mistrial. I don’t want all the work done in this trial to be thrown away,” he said in a Facebook livestream.

Aside from Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who is in hiding due to a standing arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, others who may be ineligible to vote are Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta, who are both in jail. Meanwhile, Sen. Loren Legarda has yet to return to the country following an extended medical leave.

At the same time, Ejercito bared that the Vice President has yet to confirm her attendance at the upcoming Senate deliberations for her office’s proposed P785.2-million budget for 2027.

He said the Office of the Vice President (OVP)’s budget hearing, alongside the Office of the President’s, would be scheduled last due to the chamber’s tight calendar as an impeachment court.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian previously set ground rules for the OVP budget hearing, clarifying that lawmakers would strictly avoid topics related to Duterte’s ongoing impeachment trial, including the alleged misappropriation of P612.5 million in confidential funds at the OVP and the Department of Education.