The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte plans to elevate to the Supreme Court the Senate impeachment court’s decision Wednesday to abandon the fixed 16-vote threshold for conviction, defense counsel lawyer Michael Wesley T. Poa said.
The Senate impeachment court on Wednesday decided that the number of votes needed to convict would depend on which senator-judges are able to take part in the vote. This changed the earlier rule that 16 votes, or two-thirds of the 24 senators, would be needed to convict Duterte.
Poa said the defense had participated in the oral arguments to place its position on the record, while maintaining that its participation was made ad cautelam, or without prejudice to its right to pursue further legal remedies.
“Ganun pa man, you know, that was the decision of the impeachment court. At syempre, hindi ko naman i-deny na yung pag-akyat sa Supreme Court is a real possibility,” Poa said
He said the defense would first discuss the possible move with Duterte before deciding when to file any petition.
“As to when, well, we will have to discuss the matter with our client,” he said.
Poa said documentary requirements would also have to be completed, noting that the presiding officer had said certified copies of the transcripts, journals and other records would be prepared by Thursday morning.
The defense is also considering whether to seek a temporary restraining order (TRO) should it go to the Supreme Court.
“That’s an option. That’s definitely an option. But of course, we’ll have to see the pros and cons muna,” Poa said.
He added that the repercussions of seeking or not seeking a TRO still had to be assessed.
The Senate impeachment court first rejected Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano’s attempt to stop the vote on the required number of votes. The motion was rejected 13-6, with one abstention. The court then approved the new voting rule with 13 senator-judges voting in favor, while six did not take part and the presiding officer was the only one who voted against it.
Poa said the defense respected the senator-judges’ decision despite disagreeing with it.
“I don’t want to cast aspersions pa rin against the impeachment court. I think ang layunin naman ng lahat is magkaroon ng fair trial that will not only be convincing for us, meaning the parties, but even for the general public who has been watching us every day,” he said
He stressed, however, that respecting the ruling did not mean surrendering the defense’s legal options.
“But that doesn’t mean that we do not have any legal remedies at this point. As you know, isa nga na yung pag-akyat sa Supreme Court. So definitely, that’s something we are looking at right now,” he said
Poa also reiterated his disagreement with arguments that would effectively disregard fractional results when computing the two-thirds requirement.
Under the new ruling, the court said any fractional result would be rounded up to the next whole vote.
“Pagdating sa decimal point, you can’t just disregard that. You have to actually round up rather than round down or completely disregard it,” Poa said.
He added that the defense had more procedural and substantive arguments that could not be fully presented because each side was limited to 15 minutes of oral arguments.
Poa said the change in the threshold would not alter the defense’s immediate strategy.
“Ang trabaho pa rin namin is to show whatever evidence we have to best defend the Vice President, and at the end of the day, tao rin naman ang nanonood,” he said.
For now, he said the defense would continue presenting its case while keeping its actions ad cautelam.
“It hasn’t changed our game plan. At alam pa rin naman namin yung gagawin namin,” he said
