Senate Impeachment Court spokesperson Regie Tongol said the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte would continue even if her camp files a Supreme Court petition challenging the new rule on the denominator for the two-thirds vote to convict, unless a temporary restraining order is issued.
Tongol said that the Impeachment Court would not wait for any petition to be resolved before continuing the trial.
Speaking on Bilyonaryo News Channel’s “MEMO with Korina,” Tongol said the rules of the Impeachment Court state that any pending Supreme Court petition under Rule 65 would not halt the proceedings, unless a TRO is issued.
“I-implement lamang ng Impeachment Court yung letra ng rules na iyon,” Tongol said.
Duterte’s camp earlier said that it may challenge before the Supreme Court the new interpretation that the two-thirds vote required to convict would only be based on senators who can “legally and factually” participate in the impeachment proceedings.
This would exclude those who are detained, in hiding, suspended, or have a physical or medical incapacity.
Tongol said the Impeachment Court has expected the two-thirds vote interpretation to be challenged before the Supreme Court from the start, even when Presiding Officer Sen. Francis Escudero ruled that the vote to convict is set at 16, which is two-thirds of the Senate’s 24 total members.
Escudero’s interpretation was revised by the new rule.
“Umpisa pa lang, hindi naman natatakot ang Impeachment Court doon sa possible exhaustion of remedies by any party that is aggrieved,” Tongol said.
But he also said that any party might be hard pressed to show that the Impeachment Court committed grave abuse of discretion, when it took its time to deliberate on the two-thirds vote issue before coming up with its new rule.
He also said the Supreme Court might find that this is a political question or that there is no justiciable question because it involves a co-equal branch of government that has exercised its powers.