5 senators can revive Duterte impeachment if SC reverses ruling - Gatchalian

Metro Manila, Philippines - If the Supreme Court overturns its ruling that voided the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, Senator Win Gatchalian said a motion from five senators would be enough to revive it, but another lawmaker sees an uphill battle.

Gatchalian said he reviewed Senate rules before voting to archive the Articles of Impeachment during a hotly debated plenary session on Wednesday, August 6.

“Under our rules, pwedeng by a vote of five senators, ibabalik ang impeachment at ilalagay sa order of business,” Gatchalian said in a chance interview with reporters on Friday, August 8.

[Translation: Under our rules, a vote from five senators is enough to restore the impeachment and place it in the order of business.]

“One of them can file a motion and then the five senators can manifest their intention to retrieve the Articles of Impeachment,” he added, citing Section 30 of the Rules of the Senate.

He said another option would be for a majority — at least 13 senators — to vote to suspend the rules and pull the Articles of Impeachment out of the archives.

The trial could then proceed, Gatchalian said, depending on how the Supreme Court rules on the case.

“For example, sinabi nila, hindi na ito void ab initio Meaning, na-transmit validly to the Senate. Then, the Senate can already, since na-convene na yung impeachment court, the Senate can proceed with the impeachment as if nakuha namin validly yung Articles of Impeachment,” he said.

[Translation: For example, they say it’s no longer void ab initio — meaning, it was validly transmitted to the Senate. Then the Senate can already, since the impeachment court has been convened, proceed with the impeachment as if we had validly received the Articles of Impeachment.]

However, Senator Ping Lacson warned it may not be as easy as it sounds, predicting another grueling debate.

“Pag may nag-motion at may nag-object, debate na naman kaming katakot takot,” he said.

[Translation: If someone files a motion and someone objects, we’ll be in for another intense round of debates.]

He said it would have been simpler if Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III’s motion to table the matter had won.

“Kung na-table lang ito, temporarily suspended, kung sakaling magkaroon ng ruling, anytime pwedeng i-pull out yan at kami nandiyan na uli, buhay na ulit. Yan ang diperensya,” Lacson said in a radio interview.

[Translation: If this had just been tabled, it would have been temporarily suspended. If a ruling comes out, it could be pulled out anytime and we’d be back — it would be alive again. That’s the difference.]

Lacson voted in favor of Sotto’s motion but abstained from voting to archive the impeachment complaint.

Nineteen out of 24 senators voted to archive the case, effectively rendering it dead — unless the Supreme Court grants pending appeals challenging its ruling that declared the complaint unconstitutional and void ab initio, or from the start.