MANILA, Philippines — The Senate Impeachment Court acted with full due diligence and without any trace of arbitrary judgment when it voted to lower the threshold for convicting or acquitting Vice President Sara Duterte, spokesperson Atty. Regie Tongol said on Sunday, September 27.
Tongol defended the tribunal’s September 23 vote, emphasizing that the decision to re-examine the legal definition of “all members of the Senate” followed a thorough and deliberative legal process.
“That is precisely the basis the Senate Impeachment Court will use to justify its actions in interpreting the phrase ‘all members of the Senate’,” Tongol said during a radio interview.
“That is indeed the case, because we know the voting process was deliberate; we didn’t just invite ‘amici curiae’; the impeachment court also heard both sides and listened to oral arguments,” Tongol added.
“In fact, our senator-judges posed numerous questions to both parties, gaining clarity on their respective positions—even the minority senator-judges were able to do so,” he pointed out.
The spokesman’s statements came as a direct response to a certiorari petition and a plea for a temporary restraining order (TRO) filed before the Supreme Court by former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez. Rodriguez challenged the tribunal after 13 senators voted to amend the required threshold for the trial.
A certiorari petition asks a higher tribunal to review a ruling over potential grave abuse of discretion.
Tongol maintained that the high court would find no legal grounds for grave abuse of discretion, as the Senate ensured a balanced, rigorous evaluation before taking a vote.
“And those are the very factors the Supreme Court examines to determine if there has been grave abuse of discretion. We do not see any such capricious, whimsical, or arbitrary behavior here,” he said.
“That is the position of the Senate Impeachment Court in defending its actions,” he reiterated.
He added that the impeachment court has been prepared to defend its legal standing from the outset.
“When we learned that the case would be elevated (to the Supreme Court)—we realized it would be extremely difficult to prove (there was) grave abuse of discretion,” he said.
“We maintain that these proceedings are virtually constitutionally bulletproof because the Senate, and our senator-judges, exercised all due diligence—going even beyond what was expected of them—which is how we reached this point and why they were so deliberate in weighing their votes,” he explained.