Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon clarified over the weekend that the potential suspension of lawmakers will not alter the constitutional requirement of 16 votes needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte in her upcoming Senate impeachment trial.
Speaking during a media forum in Quezon City, Ridon explained that while suspended lawmakers are strictly prohibited from participating in legislative functions, the baseline threshold for an impeachment conviction remains mathematically fixed.
“My understanding is not just for a senator, but for all members, whether House or Senate, pag suspended, you cannot participate in any committee proceedings, and you cannot participate in plenary proceedings,” Ridon said.
(“My understanding is not just for a senator, but for all members, whether House or Senate, if suspended, you cannot participate in any committee proceedings, and you cannot participate in plenary proceedings.”)
Despite the looming threat of suspensions hitting the upper chamber, the party-list legislator stressed that the constitutional rule governing the removal of an impeachable official stays intact.
“Yun pong suspension basically does not actually impact yung conviction po ng any impeachable official,” he explained. “Hindi nagbabago yung threshold vote na kailangan to convict an impeachable official. So 16 pa rin yun ang kailangan na boto to convict.”
(“That suspension basically does not actually impact the conviction of any impeachable official. The threshold vote needed to convict an impeachable official does not change. So 16 votes are still needed to convict.”)
The legal question surfaced after Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla revealed that between 35 and 45 active members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives are currently being linked to an ongoing investigation into a multibillion-peso flood control controversy.
The political landscape remains highly charged following the House of Representatives’ decisive move on May 11 to impeach Duterte, where 257 out of its 318 members voted in favor of the articles of impeachment. Only 25 lawmakers voted against the measure, while the rest did not participate.
Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano previously announced that the Senate impeachment court is expected to formally convene on Monday, May 18, barring any immediate procedural challenges to the transmitted rules.