The Supreme Court En Banc on Wednesday, September 30, dismissed three separate petitions challenging the Senate Impeachment Court’s interpretation of the two-thirds vote required to convict Vice President Sara Duterte.
The cases were filed by former Executive Secretary Victor D. Rodriguez, Berteni Cataluña Causing, and lawyer Ernesto B. Francisco Jr., who separately questioned the Senate’s September 23 ruling that the phrase “all the Members of the Senate” refers only to senators legally and actually able to participate in the impeachment proceedings at the time of the vote.
The Senate Impeachment Court had earlier abandoned the fixed 16-vote threshold based on the full 24-member Senate and adopted a computation based on senator-judges who are capable of participating in the proceedings.
In its press briefer, the Supreme Court said it “dismissed the separate petitions” challenging the Senate Impeachment Court’s interpretation of the constitutional two-thirds requirement.
Rodriguez argued that the Senate effectively amended the Constitution by introducing a qualification not found in its text. Causing maintained that senators who remain in office should still be counted even if they are detained, in hiding, or medically unable to attend, while Francisco argued that the Constitution’s 24-member Senate means at least 16 senator-judges are required for conviction.
All three petitioners sought various forms of relief, including a temporary restraining order or a status quo ante order, to prevent the disputed threshold from being applied to the impeachment trial.
However, the High Court dismissed the petitions on procedural grounds, including lack of standing and prematurity, according to its press briefer.
The Senate impeachment court’s September 23 ruling had been challenged before the Supreme Court after 13 senator-judges voted in favor of changing the previous interpretation, with six senator-judges not participating and Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero voting against it.
The dismissal leaves the Senate Impeachment Court’s interpretation in place as the impeachment proceedings against Duterte continue.
