ESCUDERO DEFENDS REOPENING OF IMPEACHMENT VOTE-THRESHOLD RULING
MANILA – Presiding officer Francis Escudero on Wednesday laid out the procedural basis for allowing the Senate impeachment court to revisit its earlier ruling that fixed at 16 the votes needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte.
Escudero said neither the Senate’s regular reconsideration periods nor the 15-day period under the Rules of Court should automatically apply because the impeachment court’s own rules do not set a specific deadline for challenging a ruling of the presiding officer. He said Senate and court procedures apply only in a suppletory manner when appropriate.
“The court, therefore, cannot also impose a deadline absent from its own rules,” Escudero said.
He also recalled that on Sept. 8, he treated Sen. Erwin Tulfo’s challenge to the threshold as an appeal for consideration by the full impeachment court. Escudero argued that if the July 6 ruling were considered final because the ordinary Senate reconsideration period had lapsed, the same reasoning would also have to apply to his Sept. 8 action.
Escudero said the July 6 interpretation was issued during an ongoing proceeding and was not a final judgment on any article of impeachment. He maintained that the court could still revisit its interpretation when its rules do not prohibit reconsideration.
The dispute centers on the constitutional requirement that conviction in an impeachment trial requires the concurrence of two-thirds of “all the Members of the Senate.” Tulfo’s appeal prompted the impeachment court to seek views from legal experts before putting the issue to a vote.
The court heard oral arguments from the prosecution and defense on Wednesday before senator-judges proceeded to consider Tulfo’s appeal.
Courtesy: PNA
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