SC asked to junk lawsuit on impeachment vote

THE Senate, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the impeachment court’s voting rule in the trial of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio.

In a 47-page comment filed on Nov. 3, the OSG argued that the petition filed by Senators Robinhood Ferdinand C. Padilla and Christopher Lawrence T. Go was premature and without merit, maintaining that the issue falls within the Senate’s constitutional authority as an impeachment court.

“The Senate impeachment court still requires a two-thirds vote,” the OSG said. “It simply applied that requirement to the members who actually sit as senator-judges in this case.”

The dispute arose from a Sept. 23 ruling of the Senate impeachment court, which voted 13-1, with six abstentions, to exclude senators who are detained, suspended, medically incapacitated or otherwise legally unable to perform their duties from the voting denominator.

Under the ruling, the number of votes needed to convict would be based on senators able to participate in the trial rather than the full 24-member Senate.

Mr. Padilla and Mr. Go challenged the decision, arguing that the Constitution requires the concurrence of two-thirds of all elected senators regardless of attendance or participation.

The OSG countered that the Constitution grants the Senate “the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment,” and that determining how the two-thirds threshold is computed when some members cannot sit is part of that authority.

If the court substituted its judgment for that of the Senate, “it would assume a part of the very function the Constitution commits solely to the impeachment court,” the OSG said.

The government lawyers also urged the high court to reject the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary restraining order or status quo ante order, arguing that impeachment proceedings and related procedural rulings are not subject to injunctive relief.

The OSG denied claims that the Senate had effectively amended the Constitution, saying the chamber merely applied the two-thirds requirement to senator-judges who are participating in the proceedings.

“Without such a rule, nonparticipating senators would be counted as though they had performed functions and as if they had voted for acquittal,” it said.

The OSG also argued that the Senate did not commit grave abuse of discretion, noting that the impeachment court heard oral arguments and consulted four retired Supreme Court justices serving as friends of the court before adopting the rule.

While the legal experts disagreed on whether the voting denominator should be fixed or flexible, choosing between competing legal interpretations does not amount to arbitrary action, the OSG said.

It added that the ruling was expressly limited to Ms. Duterte’s case because several senators were unable to participate due to detention or medical leave abroad.

The government also said there is no urgent need for interim relief since the impeachment trial remains in recess until mid-November and the petitioners, as senator-judges, have not suffered personal injury from a decision reached by the chamber. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking