MANILA – The Senate impeachment court on Wednesday cleared the way for a vote on the disputed conviction threshold in Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial after rejecting Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano’s attempt to stop the court from reopening the issue.
Thirteen senator-judges voted against Cayetano’s appeal, six supported it, while Senator-Judge Mark Villar abstained.
A successful appeal would have halted the planned vote on Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo’s challenge to the existing interpretation requiring 16 votes to convict Duterte.
Cayetano had raised a point of order questioning both the impeachment court’s authority and the timing of its move to revisit the threshold, arguing that the issue had already been settled by presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s earlier ruling.
“If we’re going to proceed, I do not want to be a part of it. But I will continue to respect our colleagues and the integrity of this court,” Cayetano said before formally challenging the chair’s ruling.
Escudero rejected the point of order, saying the same authority that allowed the court to interpret the constitutional phrase “all the Members of the Senate” in its earlier ruling also allowed it to consider a challenge to that interpretation.
“That authority cannot be recognized when it supports one interpretation and then denied when the same provision is on appeal,” Escudero said.
Cayetano then appealed Escudero’s ruling to the full impeachment court.
Voting “no” and thereby sustaining the chair were Escudero, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, Senator-Judges Vicente Sotto III, Juan Miguel Zubiri, Panfilo Lacson, JV Ejercito, Erwin Tulfo, Raffy Tulfo, Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, Lito Lapid, and Joel Villanueva.
Cayetano’s appeal was supported by Senator-Judges Pia Cayetano, Camille Villar, Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, and Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go.
Escudero said whichever side loses on the threshold question may still seek judicial relief, reiterating his position that the dispute presents a justiciable controversy.