Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna said detained or absent senators should be counted in determining the base of the impeachment vote because excluding them would disenfranchise their voters.
But Azcuna said that while they are counted in determining what constitutes two-thirds of “all members” required to convict, they should not be able to vote if they had no participation at all in the proceedings.
Azcuna has maintained that 16 votes are required to convict in Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial, favoring a strict reading of the constitutional provision stating that an impeachment conviction requires the two-thirds vote of “all members” of the Senate, regardless of whether some members are detained or out of the country.
The question arose because two senators are detained and one is in hiding.
“Bakit natin sinasama yung mga hindi maka boto sa pagbilang ng two-thirds? Being still senators, they represent a portion of the electorate. They were nationally elected and X percent of the electorate is behind them. So if you exclude them from counting, considering them as no longer members of the senate, you are disenfranchising the people who elected them,” Azcuna said on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s “On Point.”
But he said it is a different question if absent senators can be allowed to vote in the verdict while still being counted in the two-thirds threshold.
He said that they cannot vote if they had not attended any of the trial proceedings, as this affects their ability to render impartial justice.
“Sa akin, he cannot vote, because in order to vote, you have to attend,” he said.
If they only miss some of the hearings, they may be allowed to vote if they could review the records of the proceedings and evidence.
But he added that this is internal to the Senate, which could decide whether or not they would be allowed to vote.
“That is a different question from whether or not someone who has completely not participated can vote. They cannot, but he is still part of the threshold counting,” he added.
Azcuna was one of the amici curiae or friends of the court invited by the Senate Impeachment Court to share his views on the questions concerning the two-thirds vote to convict in Duterte’s impeachment trial, and whether absent senators could be allowed to vote.