Sara to challenge moving vote for conviction

MANILA, Philippines — The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte is ready to raise before the Supreme Court (SC) the voting threshold issue in her Senate impeachment trial.

“Probably in the next two weeks,” defense spokesman Michael Poa told The STAR yesterday on the sidelines of the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Manila.  

Despite limited time to present evidence in the remaining Article of Impeachment, the alleged unexplained wealth of the Vice President, Poa said they can still file a petition before the SC.  

“I think we have time to file,” he said. 

“Right now, it is being discussed internally between myself and attorney Sheila Sison and the client. This is something we will do sooner rather than later. Now, if it will be filed before the impeachment ends, hopefully we can do that,” said Poa. 

Asked if he was confident the SC would issue a decision before the Senate court renders its verdict, he said, “That would be up to the Supreme Court. Knowing the urgency of this matter, I would like to trust in our justice system.” 

Stressing the importance of seeking clarification from the high court, he said this would not only shed light on the impeachment case against the Vice President but could be useful in future impeachment trials.

“I think this is really a very important matter not just for this impeachment but even for future impeachment trials, to really determine what the Constitution means when it says two-thirds of all the members of the impeachment court,” he added.

Poa, who presented the arguments of the defense team on Sept. 23, maintained that 16 should remain as the number of votes required to secure a conviction against an impeachable official.

He said lowering the vote denominator when the trial is already ongoing might raise questions on whether the Vice President is being afforded due process in her trial. 

Thirteen senators voted in favor of allowing a moving number of votes to determine the two-thirds threshold to convict, one voted against and six others abstained. 

“As lawyers, we have a commitment to defend our client but we also have a responsibility not to mislead the public. Let us just be objective and not blur the lines between what is right and wrong,” Poa said.

“Let us not blur the lines between what the law says and what the law does not say because impeachment goes beyond us, it goes beyond the Vice President, it goes beyond the present generation. What we do today will affect the future lawyers in law schools today,” he added.

Poa said that the “Four-Way Test” of the Rotary also applies to the ongoing impeachment trial.  

The “Four-Way Test” asks the questions: Is it the truth? Is it fair to all concerned? Will it build goodwill and better friendships? Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

He explained, “Before an accusation is made, before we make our conclusion, we must first find out what is the truth. If we look at the process, we must assess the process (as) being fair to both the respondent and the Filipino people,” he said. 

He also said, “We may disagree on politics but we must at least agree on what is fair because the true measure of justice or our commitment to justice is not seeing how we treat those we support. The true measure of our commitment to justice is seeing how fairly we treat those we oppose.”

Poa believed that fairness is for everyone, and that there should be due process. He said the impeachment trial is there to establish accountability and not just a political tool to get rid of political opponents.  

“The problem is we are a very young democracy so we have to go through this process right now and perhaps in the future, when we mature as a country, we would be able to handle impeachment proceedings better,” he added.