Gatchalian: 16 votes needed for conviction at impeachment trial

MANILA, June 11 ------ Acting Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian clarified that the two-thirds vote required to convict Vice President Sara Duterte in the ongoing impeachment trial is a constitutional mandate and unaffected by any Senate leadership arrangement or dispute. "Article XI, Section 3(6) of the 1987 Constitution states unequivocally that no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate," Gatchalian said in a statement. "With the Senate’s membership fixed at 24, the conviction threshold is 16 votes, and it will remain 16 votes regardless of how many senators attend the trial, which bloc controls the chamber, or who presides over the impeachment court."

If convicted, Duterte will not only lose the vice presidency but she may also be banned from public office for life, making the 2028 presidential elections a wide-open race. Duterte currently leads pre-election polls. Gatchalian's statement came after he was asked about Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano's warning on Monday that the 12-person quorum, which was based on jurisprudence in the Avelino v. Cuenco decision of the Supreme Court in 1949, may be used to lower the numbers needed for a conviction in an impeachment trial or even propose amendments to the Constitution.

The pre-trial conference is set for June 18, with both the Duterte camp and the House prosecution panel directed to submit their pre-trial briefs by June 15, Gatchalian said. The trial proper is scheduled to begin on July 6, 2026. Gatchalian added that the new rule allowing the Senate as an impeachment court to pick a different presiding officer for non-presidential trials apart from the Senate President was already published in newspapers. However Gatchalian also said he is preparing to preside even as he did not rule out the possibility of Sen. Francis Escudero presiding over the trial.

Escudero and Sen. Francis Pangilinan are the only two lawyers in the Gatchalian-led bloc.

Source: news.abs-cbn.com