SAN Beda University Graduate School of Law Dean Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino said that the Constitution does not make 16 votes an absolute and immutable requirement to convict in an impeachment case.
In a memorandum of law dated Sept. 7 submitted to the Senate impeachment court, Aquino said the Senate’s exclusive constitutional authority to try and decide impeachment cases gives it both the power and obligation to interpret the phrase “two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.”
He noted that the issue should not be hastily referred to the Supreme Court, saying such a move would defer to a co-equal branch on a matter entrusted by the Constitution to the Senate.
Article XI, Section 3(6) of the Constitution provides that the Senate has the sole power to try and decide all impeachment cases and that no person may be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all Senate members.
Aquino said the provision must be read together with the Senate’s impeachment rules, which authorize the presiding officer to rule on questions of evidence and incidental matters, subject to a formal vote when requested by a senator.
He cited the Supreme Court’s doctrine in Bureau of Customs v. Devanadera that a tribunal with jurisdiction over a case also possesses the powers necessary to resolve incidental matters and exercise that jurisdiction effectively.
Aquino cited the doctrine of primary jurisdiction, noting that the Senate, having been expressly granted exclusive authority over impeachment cases, should first resolve the voting-threshold question.
He disputed the interpretation that 16 votes must always be obtained to convict, regardless of how many senators actually participated in the trial.
He said the constitutional requirement that two-thirds of all members concur in a conviction presupposes that those voting are the senators who tried the case.
The Senate’s Rule XXI, he noted, requires senators to answer “guilty” or “not guilty” when their names are called. Senators may also explain their votes, which Aquino said indicates that they are expected to have attended the proceedings and participated in deliberations.
Aquino said that if nine senators resigned, died or became incapacitated, maintaining a fixed 16-vote requirement could make conviction impossible regardless of the evidence.
He added that senators who did not participate in the trial should not be allowed to determine its outcome, pertaining to the absence of Senators Ronald dela Rosa, Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta, as well as the partial participation of Sen. Loren Legarda.
