Former Palace exec asks Supreme Court to void new impeachment vote threshold

Former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez has petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down the Senate impeachment court’s revised formula for determining the two-thirds vote needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte, arguing that the tribunal improperly altered a constitutional threshold.

In a 24-page petition filed with the High Court, Rodriguez sought to nullify the impeachment tribunal’s September 23 ruling. He also requested a temporary restraining order (TRO) to halt the implementation of the decision while the Supreme Court deliberates on the challenge.

The petition stems from the impeachment court's decision to overturn Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s July 6 ruling, which had firmly established that 16 votes—two-thirds of the full 24-member Senate—were required to secure a conviction.

Under the Senate's newly adopted formula, the constitutional phrase “all members of the Senate” applies only to senators who remain legally and factually capable of participating at the time of the vote. Consequently, senators who are detained, medically incapacitated, outside the Senate’s coercive reach, or otherwise unable to take part may be excluded from the total voting base.

Rodriguez argued that the impeachment court lacks constitutional authority to adjust the denominator used in calculating the two-thirds requirement.

“This is not merely a change in procedure. It changes the operative constitutional threshold for conviction,” the petition read. “In essence, the Tribunal has added a qualification to the constitutional phrase: ‘all Members of the Senate’. The Constitution itself contains no such qualification.”

Specifically, the petition urges the Supreme Court to:

Declare null and void the September 23, 2026 ruling insofar as it allows the reduction of the constitutional denominator by excluding incumbent senators due to absence or non-participation.

Affirm that Article XI, Section 3(6) of the 1987 Constitution—mandating a two-thirds concurrence of all Senate members to convict—strictly applies to all 24 senators.

Rule that the Senate cannot use internal rules of procedure to alter the constitutional denominator.

Restate Escudero’s July 6 ruling setting the conviction threshold at 16 votes.

Rodriguez maintained that the Senate consists of 24 members and that a senator’s absence or non-participation does not strip them of their membership in the chamber.

The debate over the voting base surfaced due to the prolonged absence of four senators from the proceedings. Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta remain detained at the Quezon City Jail on plunder charges; Sen. Loren Legarda is on extended medical leave in France; and Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa has been absent following an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court over the Duterte administration’s anti-drug campaign.

The Senate impeachment court adopted the September 23 ruling in a 13–1 vote, with six senator-judges abstaining from participation. The tribunal insisted that the two-thirds rule itself remains intact, maintaining that the decision merely clarified which sitting members form the voting base when others are legally or physically unable to sit as judges.

-Paraluman News