Barbers: Senate has final say on VP Sara conviction threshold

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate impeachment court itself must resolve the disputed number of votes needed to convict Vice President Sara Z. Duterte because the Constitution gives the Senate the sole power to try and decide impeachment cases, House impeachment team adviser and spokesperson Ace Barbers said Friday.

Barbers said the competing interpretations presented by former Supreme Court magistrates reinforce the need for senator-judges to make their own determination on how the constitutional two-thirds requirement should apply.

“The change in the threshold is now in the hands of the Senate,” Barbers said during an online press briefing.

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READ: Here’s what amici curiae say about the impeachment voting threshold

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“Because our Constitution says that the sole authority to try and decide all impeachment cases rests with the Senate,” he added.

The impeachment court is reconsidering Presiding Officer Sen. Francis Escudero’s ruling that 16 votes, or two-thirds of the full 24-member Senate, are required to convict Duterte.

Retired Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban, Reynato Puno and Hilario Davide Jr. separately advanced interpretations under which 16 would not necessarily remain fixed in all circumstances. Retired Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna maintained that the denominator should remain all 24 sitting senators.

Barbers said the Senate’s constitutional authority to try and decide impeachment cases includes the responsibility to resolve procedural questions arising in the trial.

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““You have the authority to try and decide. Therefore, you also have the authority to make your own rules,” he said.

Barbers said judicial intervention could arise where grave abuse of discretion or a constitutional violation is alleged, but maintained that the threshold question must first be settled by the impeachment court.

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“That is the basis for our belief that the Senate should make the decision on the threshold,” he said.

The prosecution and defense will argue their positions before the senator-judges on Sept. 23.

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Barbers stressed that prosecutors remain focused on presenting evidence rather than calculating the number of votes needed for conviction.