13 senators seen as voting threshold in Sara Duterte impeachment trial - GMA Network

Thirteen votes could be enough to convict Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment trial if only 20 senators are considered active and eligible to participate in the proceedings, law professor and litigation lawyer Howard Calleja said on Saturday.

Calleja said the two-thirds voting threshold for conviction should be based on the number of senators who are present and able to perform their functions, rather than automatically using the full 24-member Senate.

“If 20 na lang ang natira, I think the 2/3 of 20 is 13 point something, so 13 din ang gagamitin natin as the number for conviction,” Calleja said at the Saturday News Forum.

(If only 20 remain, I think two-thirds of 20 is 13-point-something, so we would use 13 as the number of votes needed for conviction.)

Calleja said the 1987 Constitution does not specifically require 16 votes for conviction, noting that it requires the “concurrence of two-thirds of all the members” of the Senate.

“The Constitution didn't state ‘16’ or ‘24’ — it admits to the moving number of members of the Senate,” he said.

Calleja made the assertion as the Senate impeachment court seeks the opinion of amici curiae before deciding on the voting threshold for Duterte's conviction in the ongoing impeachment trial.

According to Calleja, the term “concurrence” means senators must be capable of participating in the proceedings.

He said senators who are suspended, unavailable or otherwise unable to perform their legislative functions should not automatically be included in determining the threshold.

Calleja cited suspended senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta, saying their suspensions remove their rights, functions, obligations, responsibilities and privileges as members of the Senate.

He also questioned whether Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa should be included in the count, citing his status as a fugitive and questions over whether he took the oath required to serve as a senator-judge after the 2025 elections.

If the three senators are excluded, 21 senators would remain for purposes of computing the two-thirds requirement, Calleja said.

He also raised the case of Senator Loren Legarda, who is on medical leave abroad.

If Legarda returns and participates in the proceedings, Calleja said she should be included in the count. If she does not return, however, he said she should not be counted.

This would leave 20 senators, resulting in a two-thirds threshold of 13 votes, according to Calleja.

Calleja maintained that his interpretation would not amount to changing the rules in the middle of the impeachment trial, saying the Constitution itself does not fix the number of senators to be counted at 24.

He said the number could change depending on which senators are present and capable of participating in the impeachment proceedings.— MCG, GMA News