Senate Impeachment Court spokesperson Atty. Regie Tongol clarified that only a simple majority of the senator-judges present during the session will be required to approve the issuance of subpoenas for the bank and tax records of Vice President Sara Duterte and Second Gentleman Atty. Mans Carpio.

In a press briefing on Wednesday, July 15, Tongol explained that the vote is considered an ordinary procedural matter, meaning only those present during the proceedings may cast their votes.

“Pag mga ganyang mga ordinaryong botohan lamang, simple majority lamang ng quorum. Only those Senator-Judges present will be able to vote. And yung mananalong boto doon is 50% plus 1,” Tongol said.

He noted that if 21 senator-judges are present on Monday, at least 11 votes will be needed to approve the subpoenas.

Tongol also said the impeachment court initially expected to resolve the subpoena request on Wednesday, but the senator-judges agreed to defer the decision to allow more time to review the matter.

“Pinaghandaan na rin ng Presiding Officer na magkaroon ng resolution today, pero because of the agreement between the senator-judges to have more time,” he said.

He added that the requested subpoenas involving the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), banks, and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) relate to Article 2 of the impeachment complaint, which will be presented later in the trial.

Tongol said the court expects to complete the presentation of evidence for Article 4 before the end of July and begin proceedings on Article 1 thereafter.