Senate impeachment court. (SALNs).INQUIRER PHOTO / NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
MANILA, Philippines — Four retired Supreme Court justices will serve as amici curiae to the Senate impeachment court on Wednesday as Senator-judges revisit the voting threshold required to convict Vice President Sara Duterte.
The four amici curiae chosen by the impeachment court are Retired Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban, Reynato Puno, and Hilario Davide Jr., as well as retired Associate Justice Adolfo Acuna.
Notably, Acuna and Davide were among the drafters of the 1987 Constitution.
The four legal veterans will first be given five minutes to present their arguments on the primary concerns of the impeachment court which are:
- Whether the phrase “all members of the Senate in Article 11, Section 3, Paragraph 6 of the Constitution should refer to the Senate’s full membership of 24 Senators or only to those who are legally and physically capacitated to participate and vote on the final question in an impeachment trial;
- Whether or not the case of Jose Avelino v Mariano Cuenco, particularly its treatment of members beyond the coercive jurisdiction of the Senate applies in determining whether the senators who are detained, abroad, suspended, or whose whereabouts are unknown are included in the phrase “all members of the Senate” for purposes of the two-thirds vote required under Article 11, Section 3, Paragraph 6 of the Constitution; and
- Whether or not a senator-judge who did not attend or substantially participate in the impeachment proceedings as to, among others, propound questions to and observe the demeanor of witnesses may nevertheless validly cast a vote on the final question in an impeachment trial.
Davide, who will not be physically present, will respond through a legal memorandum to be read by the impeachment clerk of court Renato Bantug.
After the presentations, each senator-judge will be given five minutes to ask clarificatory questions to the panel of legal experts.
The prosecution and the defense panels may likewise ask questions through presiding-judge Francis “Chiz” Escudero.
According to impeachment court spokesperson Atty. Reginald Tongol, if the amici curiae present contradictory arguments, it will be up to the senator-judges to decide how to weigh the retired justices’ presentations.
Both camps will then have the opportunity to present their oral arguments on September 23, before the senator-judges vote on whether the impeachment court will uphold the 16-vote requirement to convict Duterte.
When the impeachment trial began on July 6, Escudero ruled that Duterte’s conviction will require 16 votes, as prescribed in the Constitution. The Constitution states that convicting an impeachable official requires a two-thirds vote of all senator-judges.
However, three senators facing legal battles have not yet attended a day of trial.
Sens. Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada are currently detained and facing plunder charges, while Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa is in hiding amid an International Criminal Court arrest warrant issued against him for alleged crimes against humanity during the drug war.