Vice President Sara Duterte says she anticipates that the senators trying her impeachment case will move to adjust the number of votes required to remove her from office, a shift she frames as a departure from what the tribunal first committed to.
The comment goes to the heart of a dispute that has consumed recent hearings: how many of the 24 senator-judges must vote guilty to convict. The Constitution fixes that figure at two-thirds, or 16 votes. Duterte contends the court initially pledged to abide by that standard and is now reconsidering it.
“‘Yung [impeachment voting] threshold, nadesisyunan na unang-una pa lang na susundin ‘yung Konstitusyon. Ngayong nagbago ang usapan, ibig sabihin, babaguhin nila,” the Vice President said.
What has forced the question into the open is arithmetic. Four members of the chamber have been missing from the proceedings, and with the guilty count fixed at 16 regardless of who shows up, the prosecution faces a steeper path if absences persist. Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri told reporters that the matter surfaced during a caucus, saying some senators had begun to raise doubts about whether the 16-vote requirement still holds given who is unavailable to sit.
Two of the absent senators are in custody. Jinggoy Estrada is detained on a plunder charge tied to alleged flood-control corruption, while Rodante Marcoleta is likewise held over a plunder case connected to campaign contributions. A third, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, has stayed out of sight while facing an arrest warrant linked to the International Criminal Court.
The fourth seat has been empty since early August, when Loren Legarda began a medical leave that she has since renewed repeatedly. Rappler reported that her first filing ran from August 3 to 5 before being extended in successive stretches, and the National Bureau of Investigation said she flew to France on August 2. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, describing Legarda as a longtime personal friend, told reporters she is dealing with a serious illness and that he had no information on when she might come back. Her leave has coincided with an Office of the Ombudsman inquiry into plunder and graft complaints against her and her son, Batangas Representative Leandro Leviste, over solar energy contracts.
Not everyone at the Senate accepts that the benchmark should move. Impeachment court spokesman Reginald Tongol has cautioned that reworking the conviction requirement partway through would amount to rewriting the rules while the trial is underway, warning against bending legal standards to suit either side. To settle the disagreement, presiding officer Francis Escudero has scheduled oral arguments for September 23 and said the court intends to bring in outside legal experts to weigh in.
The clash over vote counting is unfolding as the case itself narrows. According to BusinessWorld, House prosecutors dropped their 15 remaining witnesses on the first article of impeachment, which accuses Duterte of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds, a move that trims the length of the trial ahead of the threshold debate.
