The 16-vote requirement guarding conviction in the Senate cannot be undone by a bare majority, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo “Pulong” Duterte argued Saturday, pushing back against a scenario in which fewer than a dozen senator-judges could recalibrate the threshold now central to his sister’s impeachment trial.
Writing on Facebook, the congressman drew a line between routine chamber business and the charter itself. He acknowledged that ten votes might legitimately settle a procedural matter where Senate rules permit it, but insisted the same tally has no bearing on the Constitution. “Ten votes to reverse the 16-vote rule? Are you sure about this? Ten votes to change the Constitution? Di puwede,” he wrote.
His objection turns on how the constitutional text is read. Article XI, Section 3 bars any impeachment conviction without the agreement of two-thirds of all Senate members — a figure that, applied to a 24-seat chamber, produces the 16-vote floor. Duterte pressed the point sharply, taking aim at those he accused of bending the wording. “Ang Constitution mismo ang nagsasabi ng ‘two-thirds of all the members of the Senate,'” he posted, per a report by HeadTopics PH, adding that “all” leaves no room for qualifiers such as “all present.”
The lawmaker cast the dispute as a question of what governs what. “Hindi ang Constitution ang dapat sumunod sa boto. Ang boto ang dapat sumunod sa Constitution,” he wrote, warning that letting a simple majority dictate constitutional outcomes would erode the framework the country’s institutions rest on.
The remarks landed as the impeachment court weighed exactly the arithmetic he was disputing. Court spokesperson Atty. Reginald Tongol initially told reporters that ten affirmative votes could overturn presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero’s ruling — a count that assumed Escudero would sit out and that four absent senators would leave 19 members casting ballots. Tongol later revised the figure to 11, telling Inquirer that Escudero and clerk of court Renato Bantug Jr. had confirmed the presiding officer’s vote would in fact count, lifting the active bench to 20.
Whether that recalculation ever takes effect remains open. The impeachment court has set September 16 to revisit the threshold, with the prosecution and defense scheduled to make their cases on September 23. Any move to adjust the 16-vote rule, Tongol has said, could still be carried to the Supreme Court for resolution.
