The Senate impeachment court has effectively settled that Vice President Sara Duterte may be convicted only with at least 16 votes after no senator-judge challenged the ruling on the opening day of the trial, Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano said Tuesday.

The clarification came after Senator-judge Panfilo Lacson sought confirmation on the number of votes needed to convict the Vice President during the second day of the trial on July 7.

Presiding Officer Francis Escudero replied that his statement on Monday had already become the ruling of the impeachment court because no senator-judge objected to or appealed it.

Cayetano said this was also his understanding of the court’s position. He recalled that during the opening proceedings, he asked whether Escudero’s statement was merely the opinion of the presiding officer or an official ruling of the impeachment court.

“I clarified whether that was the opinion of the elected presiding officer Senator Escudero. If it’s the ruling of the court, then as a threshold issue, we will have no further questions,” Cayetano said.

He explained that while the required number of votes has now been clarified, another matter still needs to be resolved by the impeachment court, which is whether Senators Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada should participate in voting on the verdict.

“It is in that spirit that we ask and we’re preparing maybe a memoranda for all members to allow Senator Marcoleta and Senator Jinggoy since they are going to have a vote,” he said.

“If they are not allowed to vote, then that will be counted as a vote for acquittal. And that might be favorable to the defense rather than a part of giving a fair trial,” he added.

Cayetano said constitutional questions may still be discussed as the trial moves forward but stressed that the court has already made its position clear on the voting requirement.

“As of today it is very clear that as a court, we have decided that two-thirds of 24. There are 24 members of the Senate today. Twenty are present here today, but there are still 24 members and 16 ang number of senators needed to convict on any of the articles,” the senator said.###