Former Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez has asked the Supreme Court to invalidate a Senate Impeachment Court ruling that lowered the number of votes needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment trial.
Rodriguez filed a petition for certiorari seeking to nullify the Sept. 23 ruling and asked the Supreme Court to issue a temporary restraining order preventing its implementation while the constitutional challenge is being considered.
The Senate Impeachment Court ruled that conviction requires the support of two-thirds of the senator-judges “capable of participating” in the proceedings. The decision came after four senators were absent from the trial: Ronald dela Rosa, Jinggoy Estrada, Rodante Marcoleta and Loren Legarda.
With 20 senator-judges considered capable of participating, the two-thirds requirement translates to 14 votes rather than 16 votes based on the full 24-member Senate.
Rodriguez argues that the Constitution sets the required threshold at two-thirds of all members of the Senate and that the absence or non-participation of a senator does not remove that senator from the chamber’s constitutional membership.
Under his interpretation, the Senate has 24 members, meaning 16 affirmative votes would be required for an impeachment conviction. He argues that changing the denominator from 24 to 20 effectively changes the constitutional requirement without a constitutional amendment.
The petition describes the issue as a constitutional question with significant consequences for the impeachment process. Rodriguez said the Senate Impeachment Court should not be able to modify an express constitutional voting requirement through its own ruling.
The dispute centers on Article XI, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution, which provides that conviction in an impeachment case requires the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.
The Senate’s position is based on its interpretation of who should be counted when senators are unable to participate in the proceedings. The controversy therefore turns not simply on the number of senators physically present, but on whether the constitutional phrase “all the Members of the Senate” refers to the chamber’s full membership or only those capable of participating in a particular impeachment proceeding.
Rodriguez has also asked the Supreme Court to preserve the status quo while it reviews the petition. The requested temporary restraining order would prevent the challenged voting standard from being applied during the impeachment proceedings.
The Supreme Court has yet to rule on Rodriguez’s petition or his request for a temporary restraining order. The filing itself does not determine the validity of the Senate’s interpretation; that question remains for the Court to decide.
The dispute places the constitutional mechanics of impeachment at the center of Vice President Duterte’s trial, with the Supreme Court now potentially being asked to determine whether the Senate Impeachment Court can apply a reduced voting denominator when some senator-judges cannot participate.
