The Senate impeachment court will retain the 16-vote threshold needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte, with spokesperson Reginald Tongol warning that changing the requirement in the middle of the trial would be “dangerous.”
The issue was raised after the prosecution questioned whether the conviction threshold should adjust because some senator-judges are absent or unable to participate. Tongol said the rules cannot be changed for the convenience of either side.
“We are not just playing here for the convenience of the parties to change the rules mid-trial,” Tongol said. “The impeachment court does not act for the convenience of either the prosecution or the defense. It is acting to uphold the due process requirements under the law.”
Tongol said presiding officer Sen. Chiz Escudero’s July 6 ruling setting the threshold at 16 votes remains “set in stone” unless overturned by the Supreme Court. He also questioned whether senator-judges can still challenge the ruling internally after the period for appeal may have lapsed.
The spokesperson defended the threshold by citing the Supreme Court’s 2000 ruling in Bayan v. Zamora, which recognizes the Senate as a 24-member body regardless of how many senators are physically present.
Tongol said the high threshold reflects the intent of the 1987 Constitution’s framers, who made impeachment difficult because it removes an official chosen through a national mandate.
“Two-thirds is not a simple majority. It was the intention of the framers of the Constitution to make it hard for impeachment to happen,” he said.
Former Supreme Court Justice Adolfo Azcuna agreed, saying the absence of senator-judges does not reduce the required votes and only means they cannot contribute to the 16 votes needed for conviction.
