A Facebook post claims Senator President Pro-Tempore Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said 14 votes are enough to convict Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment case. This is fake.
The post published on June 18 is captioned:
“14 VOTES na lang raw ang kailngan para maimpeach si VP?
(Only 14 votes are needed to impeach the VP?).”
It contains a graphic card with a photo of Sotto and the following quote attributed to him:
“14 votes nalang po ang kailangan natin para ma-impeach na si VP Sara
(We only need 14 votes to impeach VP Sara).”
The photo of the senator is from May 2018 when he was elected to the top Senate post, replacing then Sen. Koko Pimentel.
Another FB post with the same graphic and caption was also published on the same day.
In a June 18 interview with Bilyonaryo News Channel, Sotto said that unless there is a better explanation to change the intention of the constitutional provision on the voting in an impeachment trial, he would stand by the numbers as stated in the Charter for now.
“At the moment, we will have to follow the original number being mentioned in the Constitution, which is two-thirds of all the members of the Senate, and then when it comes to that issue of baka maging 22 na lang or 21 na lang ang members of the Senate, I think it’s something that’s debatable at this point. I’ve heard both sides, but I would rather listen to them first before I come up with my own interpretation of the subject. But right now, I would be siding with what the Constitution says unless a better explanation comes around.”
On May 11, the House of Representatives impeached Duterte with an overwhelming 257 affirmative votes.
The Senate convened as an impeachment court on May 18, with senators set to vote on whether to convict and remove Duterte from office or acquit her. According to Article XI, Section 3(6) of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines, two-thirds of all the members’ votes are required to render a judgment of conviction.
This translates to 16 out of the entire 24 Senators.
But some legal experts have questioned this. Retired Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio said that the number of required votes can still be lowered, noting that Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, is under a 90-day preventive suspension for plunder charges and should not be counted in the two-thirds requirement.
On the other hand, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Aczuna disagreed. He said that any Senator prohibited from participating in Duterte’s impeachment trial must still be included in the 24-member count.
He noted, however, that Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa could be exempted if he is formally declared a fugitive from justice and his absence from the chamber is considered a “constructive resignation.”
The fake posts surfaced after the first pre-trial conference on the case on June 17, the last stop before Duterte’s trial in July.
The post, published by the page Supremo TVee, which was shared in the public FB group Sen. Rodante Marcoleta Followers, has so far garnered 2,237 reactions, 2,100 comments, and 90 shares.
