Prosecution panel urges two-thirds Senate vote to convict Vice President Duterte

In a Wednesday hearing, the House prosecution panel contended that Vice President Sara Duterte can only be convicted if two-thirds of the full Senate—24 members—agree, warning that using only the senators present could automatically result in acquittal. Akbayan Representative Chel Diokno presented the prosecution’s argument, after which Duterte’s defense responded. The dispute stems from Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo’s motion to revisit Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero’s decision that the base vote counts all 24 senators, despite the 1987 Constitution’s wording that conviction requires two-thirds of all Senate members.

The impeachment court has invited retired Supreme Court chief justices Artemio Panganiban, Reynato Puno and Hilario Davide Jr., along with Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, as amici curiae. The three former chief justices favor a threshold based on the number of senator-judges who actually sit in the trial, whereas Justice Azcuna, a constitutional framer, maintains that the two-thirds requirement applies to the entire Senate, meaning at least 16 votes are needed for conviction.