Duterte impeachment Day 32: high court rejects challenges to conviction vote rule as trial resumes
The Supreme Court has dismissed petitions challenging the Senate impeachment court's lowered two-thirds conviction threshold, clearing a legal hurdle as Vice President Sara Duterte's trial enters Day 32 with testimony on her husband's properties.
The Philippine Supreme Court has thrown out three petitions challenging the Senate impeachment court’s interpretation of the two-thirds vote needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte, removing a legal obstacle as her trial enters its 32nd day on Thursday.
The High Court’s en banc dismissed the petitions on Wednesday on procedural grounds — lack of legal standing and prematurity — leaving in force the impeachment court’s September 23 ruling that “all the Members of the Senate” means senators legally and factually capable of participating, rather than all 24 seats. With 20 active senators, the conviction threshold is 14 votes and seven votes would acquit. The ruling overturned an earlier decision by presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero fixing the bar at 16.
The petitioners — former executive secretary Victor Rodriguez, lawyer Berteni Cataluña Causing and lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. — had asked the court to nullify the ruling and issue a restraining order. Impeachment court spokesman Atty. Regie Tongol said the dismissal placed a “firewall” around the tribunal’s independence.
Day 32 runs as a full-day session from 10am on the alleged unexplained wealth of the vice president, with two provincial officials expected to testify on the properties of her husband, Manases Carpio. Wednesday’s session had been cancelled for what the court called a “strategic procedural pause”.
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