SC junks petitions challenging Sara Duterte impeachment voting threshold

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The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday dismissed separate petitions challenging the Senate impeachment court’s ruling to base the voting threshold for Vice President Sara Duterte’s conviction on the number of senators who are participating in the proceedings.

According to the court, the SC En Banc dismissed the petitions filed by former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez, Berteni Causing, and lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. on procedural grounds, including lack of standing and prematurity.

Last week, the impeachment court voted to base the two-thirds of votes required for conviction on the number of senators who are capable of "legally and factually participating in the impeachment proceedings."

This is because the 1987 Constitution states that "no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate."

The three petitioners sought the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) or status quo ante order (SQAO) against the ruling’s implementation.

Rodriguez also asked the SC to nullify the ruling, arguing that the impeachment court effectively amended the Constitution by adding a qualification not found in its text.

For their part, Causing and Francisco argued that senators who remain in office should be counted even if they are in hiding, detained, or medically unable to attend.

Causing asked the SC to compel Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Rodante Marcoleta, and Ronald “Bato” Dela ROsa to participate in the trial and for the Senate to take the necessary steps to ensure their attendance.

Marcoleta is detained over a P75-million plunder case while Estrada is detained over a P573-million plunder charge, which is a non-bailable offense.

Dela Rosa, meanwhile, has not appeared in public since his departure from the Senate premises on May 14, after authorities attempted to serve an International Criminal Court warrant against him. —AOL, GMA News