Former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez has asked the Supreme Court to restrain the Senate sitting as an impeachment court from proceeding with any conviction vote against Vice President Sara Duterte under its revised voting threshold.
In a petition for certiorari and prohibition with an urgent application for a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or writ of preliminary injunction, Rodriguez questioned the legality of the Senate’s Sept. 23, 2026 ruling that revised the constitutional requirement for conviction in an impeachment case.
Rodriguez asked the SC to restrain the Senate, its officers, agents and representatives from conducting, completing, implementing or giving effect to any impeachment conviction vote based on the questioned ruling while the petition is being resolved.
He argued that the Constitution’s requirement of a two-thirds vote of “all the Members of the Senate” cannot be rewritten as “all Members capable of participating.”
The petition challenges the Senate court’s interpretation that only senators who are legally and factually capable of participating in the impeachment proceedings should be counted in determining the two-thirds threshold.
According to Rodriguez, the ruling effectively created a new constitutional denominator that could vary depending on the circumstances of individual senators.
He argued that the Constitution does not provide that the two-thirds requirement should be based on senators who are present or capable of participating.
Article XI, Section 3(6) of the Constitution states that no person shall be convicted in an impeachment case without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.
For Rodriguez, the phrase refers to all legally constituted members of the Senate and does not exclude incumbent senators merely because they are detained, absent, unable to participate or otherwise considered incapable of taking part in the proceedings.
He argued that if the Senate is composed of 24 members, the constitutional requirement remains 16 votes.
Rodriguez further claimed that the Senate tribunal’s Sept. 23 ruling effectively altered the Constitution without following the amendment procedures under Article XVII.
“The Constitution cannot be amended sub silentio. Neither can it be amended pro hac vice,” the petition said.
He maintained that the Senate’s power to try and decide impeachment cases does not include the authority to change the constitutional voting requirement for conviction.
Rodriguez also argued that the issue is subject to judicial review because the petition raises an alleged grave abuse of discretion by the Senate in exercising its impeachment powers.
He stressed that he was not asking the SC to determine Duterte’s guilt or innocence but only to settle the constitutional rule governing the number of votes required for conviction.
The Senate impeachment tribunal on Sept. 23 voted 13-1 with six senator-judges abstaining, to adopt the revised interpretation that “all the Members of the Senate” refers only to members capable of participating in the proceedings.
Rodriguez is asking the SC to nullify the ruling and prevent the Senate from proceeding under the reduced denominator.
He also wants the High Court to reinstate the Senate’s earlier July 6 ruling recognizing that a constitutionally constituted 24-member Senate requires 16 votes to convict.