Senate Impeachment Court Overturns Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero’s Past Ruling
The Senate impeachment court voted to lower the voting threshold that requires 16 votes to convict Vice President Sara Duterte.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte previously posted bail on the “grave threats” case filed against her. The accusations stemmed from the previous reported remarks of the Vice President against Pres. Bongbong Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. The said issue is one of those raised in the impeachment moves against her.
Previously, four (4) impeachment complaints were filed against Vice Pres. Duterte before the Office of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives. One (1) of the said impeachment raps was set aside while the other was withdrawn by the complainants.
Two (2) impeachment complaints were found substantial in form, substance, and grounds by the House Committee on Justice. Several grounds were raised against Duterte.
Here are some of the grounds raised against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte in the moves to remove her from her position:
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount over PHP 500 million confidential funds (CF) allocated to the Office of the Vice President from 2022 to 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount of not less than PHP 112.5 million of confidential funds allocated to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the year 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust by corrupting and bribing officials of the DepEd
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in contracting to murder or assassinate the president, the first lady, and the former speaker of the House
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose all her properties and interests in properties in her SALN
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in committing acts of political destabilization and the high crimes of sedition and insurrection
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte has repeatedly claimed that she’s fine if she will be impeached. Her camp believes that her being a threat to the administration in the next election is allegedly a huge factor in the move to impeach her.
Currently, the impeachment proceedings is ongoing. Amid the ongoing issues in the Philippines, two (2) senators are now detained for plunder — senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta.
Sen. Bato dela Rosa remains in ‘hiding’ amid a supposed arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him. Sen. Loren Legarda is also on medical leave amid the complaints against her. All four senators belong to the minority bloc in the Senate.
Recently, the Senate impeachment court voted on the 16-vote threshold to convict Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. It has long been an issue. Based on News5, six (6) senators did not participate in the voting and they are as follows:
- Alan Peter Cayetano
- Pia Cayetano
- Robin Padilla
- Camille Villar
- Bong Go
- Imee Marcos
Based on the post, with a 13-6-1 voting result, the Senate impeachment court voted to lower the 16-vote impeachment threshold to convict Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. The sole senator who opposed the motion was Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero whose July 6 ruling was overturned by the recent result.
Under the new ruling of the Senate, the 2/3 denominator to convict Vice Pres. Sara Duterte no longer includes detained senators, those senators who are suspended and legally restrained, those whose whereabouts could not be determined, and those who are past the coercive processes of the chamber.
The recent ruling drops the threshold for conviction from 2/3 of 24 which is 16 votes to 2/3 of 20 which is equal to 13.333. According to Escudero, “there can be no fraction of a senator” so the impeachment court rounded it up to 14 votes.
Amid her tirades against Pres. Bongbong Marcos, Malacañang has previously broken its silence on the issuance of arrest warrant against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte.
