Supreme Court junks petitions vs adjusted impeachment voting threshold - Rappler

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IMPEACHMENT TRIAL. The Senate impeachment court in session for the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

MANILA, Philippines –  The Supreme Court (SC), on Wednesday, September 30, dismissed the petitions questioning the Senate impeachment court’s ruling that adjusted the voting threshold for impeachment conviction.

The High Court junked the petitions due to technicalities — particularly the lack of legal standing of the parties, and for being premature. A petitioner is required to have a legal standing or locus standi for a petition to prosper.

“The SC dismissed the separate petitions filed by Victor D. Rodriguez, Berteni Cataluña Causing, and Atty. Ernesto B. Francisco, Jr., challenging the Senate Impeachment Court’s interpretation of the two-thirds vote required to convict in an impeachment case,” said the SC.

The ruling was unanimous based on the votes of justices present.After holding oral arguments, the Senate impeachment court voted on September 23 to lower the voting threshold in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment proceedings. Thirteen senators voted in favor, while presiding officer Chiz Escudero, who ruled on July 6 that the votes needed to convict Duterte is fixed at 16, cast the lone negative vote.

Based on the decision, the impeachment court will count only the votes of senator-judges who are “legally and factually capable” of participating in the proceedings at the time of the vote. With 20 active senators at present, two-thirds of the denominator (or the required number of conviction votes) would mean 14; 7 votes are needed to acquit.

In his petition, Rodriguez, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s former executive secretary, argued that the impeachment court amended the constitution by adding a qualification found in its text. 

“No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate,” says Article XI, Section 3(6) of the 1987 Constitution.

Meanwhile, Causing, who was disbarred by the SC in 2023, argued that senators who are in hiding, detained, or medically unable to attend proceedings must still be counted in the computation of the threshold.Petitioner Francisco argued that the number needed for conviction should be at least 16. Francisco is the same lawyer behind the landmark ruling Francisco vs. House of Representatives, where the SC clarified when impeachment proceedings are considered initiated. 

The House prosecution team earlier said that the petitions might actually be premature and not yet justiciable or a legal issue that needs to be decided by a court. The trial is still ongoing and the Senate has yet to vote whether to acquit or convict Duterte.

The impeachment court welcomed the SC decision and said the dismissal of the cases confirmed that the “interpretations and proceedings of the Senate impeachment court are constitutionally bulletproof.”

“By junking these challenges, the Highest Court has drawn a definitive firewall around the independence of the Senate as an impeachment court, confirming that its proceedings cannot be held hostage by premature judicial meddling or collateral litigation,” said Senate impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol.

“The impeachment court’s September 23 ruling stands undisturbed and shall continue to perform its constitutional mandate to solely try and decide the impeachment case before it without unnecessary stalling or external distractions,” Tongol said.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian echoed similar remarks, saying the High Court ruling means the decisions of the impeachment court are “within its bounds and within its constitutional allowance.”

“Two petitions were filed — one was a TRO, and the other was a prayer for status quo ante order. Both were dismissed by the SC, so that means the trial will continue,” Gatchalian said in a chance interview.

“This also goes to show that the High Court respects the rulings of the impeachment court,” he added. – with reports from Sundy Locus/Rappler.com