(PNA photo by Avito Dalan)
MANILA – A 2001 Senate precedent involving the approval of four international agreements with 13 affirmative votes was raised Wednesday as the impeachment court considers how to compute the two-thirds vote required to convict Vice President Sara Duterte.
Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri cited the March 19, 2001 Senate journal showing that 13 senators voted to concur in four treaties at a time when the chamber had fewer than its full 24 members.
Zubiri asked the amici curiae, or friends of the court, whether the Senate had violated the Constitution by approving the agreements with only 13 votes.
The issue is relevant because Article VII, Section 21 of the Constitution requires at least two-thirds of “all the Members of the Senate” to concur in treaties, the same phrase used in Article XI, Section 3(6) for conviction in an impeachment trial.
At the time of the 2001 treaty votes, four Senate seats were no longer occupied after Gloria Macapagal Arroyo became vice president, Marcelo Fernan died, Teofisto Guingona Jr. was appointed vice president, and Raul Roco was appointed education secretary. Then-senator Francisco Tatad was also abroad on official mission.
Retired Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban told the impeachment court that the Senate did not act contrary to the Constitution when it approved the treaties with 13 votes.
Panganiban, however, stressed that treaty concurrence and impeachment involve different constitutional functions. He said the Senate acts as a treaty-ratifying body in one instance and as an impeachment court in the other.
The former chief justice said impeachment proceedings require senator-judges to hear and evaluate evidence before reaching a judgment, distinguishing the process from ordinary legislative deliberations.
Zubiri also noted that the Constitution provides two-thirds voting requirements in several areas, including treaty concurrence, impeachment conviction, overriding a presidential veto, declaring a state of war, and calling a constitutional convention.
The Senate impeachment court is reviewing the disputed conviction threshold after questions were raised over whether senators who cannot participate should still be included in the voting base. Oral arguments by the prosecution and defense are scheduled for September 23.
