Metro Manila, Philippines – Senator Rodante Marcoleta will not seek a temporary release authorization to attend the Impeachment Court voting on the debated threshold to convict Vice President Sara Duterte, arguing that the Constitution is clear on the matter.
“I will not move for a furlough just to vote for the threshold,” Marcoleta told reporters after his bail hearing before the Sandiganbayan Third Division, which allowed the interview inside the courtroom, on Thursday, Sept. 17.
Marcoleta said the threshold should not be subject to a vote because the Constitution expressly requires the concurrence of two-thirds of all members of the Senate to convict an impeached official.
“Nobody has the right to change the language of the Constitution,” he said.
The Senate impeachment court is set to hear oral arguments on the voting threshold on Sept. 23.
The issue arose after Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo questioned whether “two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate” in the Constitution should always mean 16 votes based on the full 24-member Senate, or whether senators who are unable to participate should be excluded from the voting pool.
Four retired Supreme Court justices appeared before the court on Wednesday to give their views on the issue.
READ: What did the ‘amici curiae’ or friends of court think on the threshold issue?
He said he had previously submitted a July 20 manifestation asking the Senate to take up his request to participate in the impeachment trial proceedings while in detention.
Marcoleta said he is disappointed that nearly two months later, the Senate has yet to discuss his manifestation.
“If they will not take it up, why would I participate?” he said.
Marcoleta, who was arrested on July 6 in connection with a ₱75-million plunder case, has been unable to sit as a senator-judge since the impeachment trial began that day.
READ: Marcoleta arrested on plunder charges
