EVEN before the Supreme Court could resolve the issue on the 16-vote threshold required to oust an impeachable official, a lawyer who claims to be the court-designated spokesperson made a sweeping claim — that ousting Vice President Sara Duterte would only require 11 votes.
Lawyer Reginald Tongol however clarified that the 11 votes he mentioned is for the purpose of nullifying an earlier ruling setting the threshold for conviction at 16 votes — if four senator-judges would fail to find ways to attend the trial.
According to Tongol, the numerical value would include the vote of Senator Francis Escudero in his capacity as presiding officer of the impeachment court.
BADLY MISSING
To date, at least four senator-judges have not been able to attend and participate in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte for various reasons.
On top of the list is fugitive Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa who has been in hiding amid an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity concealed as an anti-illegal drugs campaign during the previous administration. He was then the country’s national police chief.
Likewise on the absentee column are Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta who have been detained at the New Quezon City Jail for plunder and other criminal offenses.
Senator Loren Legarda, who is on an “extended leave” has not been able to attend. She’s in France for treatment of a “serious lung ailment.”
CHIZ TO VOTE
Over the weekend, Senator Francis Escudero in his capacity as presiding officer of the impeachment court expressed intent on casting his vote on the matter.
Escudero’s pronouncement decimates Tongol’s earlier claim that Escudero would no longer vote.
With dela Rosa, Estrada, Marcoleta and Legarda out, Tongol explained that the inclusion of Escudero in the list of senator-judges empowered to vote, effectively makes 11 votes as majority on the assumption that all remaining 20 senators show up on the day of the promulgation.
“I was informed by our presiding officer and the clerk of court that, based on their assessment, the presiding officer would also be voting on the matter,” Tongol averred.
In the previous impeachment trials, the presiding officer did not vote.
“In the ordinary course of Senate proceedings, the Senate President typically does not vote; the other members are the ones who cast their votes. [But] the presiding officer discussed this at length … And he decided to take this direction by voting on the question (of threshold).”
LEGAL LUMINARIES
The Senate impeachment court earlier requested four retired Supreme Court justices to share their views on the constitutional provision stating that conviction in an impeachment trial requires the vote of at least the two-thirds of “all senators.”
Among the invited “friends of court” include retired Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban, Reynato Puno, Hilario Davide and retired Associate Justice Rodolfo Azcuna. Davide, however, hinted at attending through videoconference.
