MANILA — The number of votes needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio is no longer automatically fixed at 16.
The Senate impeachment court ruled Wednesday that only senators legally and factually capable of participating in the final vote will be counted in determining the constitutional two-thirds threshold.
The ruling effectively abandons the earlier computation based on the full 24-member Senate and opens the possibility that fewer than 16 votes could be sufficient for conviction, depending on how many senator-judges are qualified and able to participate when judgment is rendered.
Presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero said the constitutional phrase “all members of the Senate” would apply to senators who remain legally and factually capable of taking part in the proceedings at the time of voting.
“To determine the two-thirds concurrence required for conviction under Article 11 Section 3(6) of the Constuttion, the phrase ‘all members of the Senate’ shall refer to those members, who at the time of the vote, remain legally and factually capable of participating in the proceedings,” Escudero said.
Under the ruling, senators who are detained, suspended or otherwise legally barred from exercising their duties will not be included in the base used to calculate the two-thirds vote.
The exclusion will also cover senators whose whereabouts are unknown because they are being sought by authorities, those suffering from physical or medical incapacity, and those beyond the Senate’s coercive processes.
Escudero said senators in other substantially similar circumstances may likewise be excluded from the computation.
The ruling marks a major shift from Escudero’s pronouncement at the start of Duterte-Carpio’s impeachment trial that 16 affirmative votes would be necessary for conviction.
That original threshold was based on a literal computation of two-thirds of the Senate’s constitutionally prescribed 24-member composition.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo sought reconsideration of the 16-vote requirement and questioned whether senators who are unable to participate in the proceedings should still be included in computing the threshold.
Tulfo specifically raised the circumstances of senators Ronald Dela Rosa, Jinggoy Estrada, Rodante Marcoleta and Loren Legarda in questioning how the constitutional requirement should be applied.
Article XI, Section 3(6) of the 1987 Constitution states: “No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.”
The revised interpretation means the exact number of votes required to convict Duterte-Carpio will depend on the number of senators deemed legally and factually capable of participating when the impeachment court ultimately votes on the case.
The ruling does not itself determine whether Duterte-Carpio will be convicted or acquitted, but changes the numerical basis that will be used when senator-judges eventually decide her fate./PN
