Palace: VP trial vote up to Senate

THE Executive branch will not intervene in questions over the number of votes needed to convict Vice-President (VP) Sara Duterte-Carpio in her impeachment trial, Malacañang said on Monday.

Palace Press Officer Clarissa A. Castro said the Palace would not take a position on proposals to lower the constitutional threshold for conviction after some senators became legally embroiled following the arrest of Senator Rodante D. Marcoleta on a plunder charge earlier in the day.

“The Executive will not interfere in whatever resolution is reached on that issue. It is up to the Senate to decide what rules it will implement,” Ms. Castro told a news briefing in Filipino.

Under the 1987 Constitution, conviction in an impeachment trial requires the concurrence of two-thirds of all members of the Senate.

Questions have been raised over whether that threshold should change after several senators became the subject of criminal proceedings.

Ms. Castro also said President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. will not closely monitor the impeachment trial.

“It is not necessary for the President to monitor it. He will know the developments through the news. The President has much more work to do than simply sit and watch the impeachment trial,” she said. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking