‘Lokohan lang’: Sara Duterte spokesperson questions fairness of Senate voting threshold ruling

MANILA — Vice President Sara Duterte’s spokesperson dismissed the Senate’s ruling on the voting threshold as a “sham,” after the tribunal decided on Wednesday that only senators physically present on the final day of the impeachment trial may cast votes on whether the second-in-command should be ousted from office.

The Philippine Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of all Senate members to conviction and oust an impeachable official from office. 

However, a majority of senator-judges ruled that the current chamber needs to acknowledge that at least four senators have failed to attend proceedings due to detention over plunder cases, health issues, or evading arrest.

“Lokohan na ‘tong nangyayari at kaya nga sila posibleng umakyat sa Korte Suprema,” said Paolo Panelo, the Vice President’s spokesperson.

“Malinaw naman ‘yung Konstitusyon. Two-thirds of all members. Hindi naman two-thirds of all members present. Hindi two-thirds of all members that are not incarcerated. Hindi naman two-thirds of all members that are able to vote. ‘Di ba? Malinaw. Two-thirds of all members,” he added.

The Senate impeachment court ruled against the Vice President’s interpretation of the voting threshold provision after 13 senators voted in favor of excluding detained, suspended, missing, and ailing members of the impeachment tribunal from the final vote.

Senator Mark Villar was the lone member of the Senate minority bloc who joined the majority in the vote, while his colleagues from the minority bloc refused to participate in the proceedings that settled the conviction threshold issue.

Panelo asserted that Villar’s vote might be linked to the Ombudsman’s recent announcement that graft investigations have been launched against PrimeWater, a utility firm previously tied to the lawmaker’s family.

“To me, it doesn’t look like it’s coincidental,” the spokesperson said.

“Mukhang may nakaapekto sa kaniya ‘yung anunsyo ng pag-file ng kaso laban sa pamilya niya,” he said.

Villar — who earlier maintained he has no involvement in PrimeWater operations — has yet to respond to requests for comment, though his family previously stated they would respect the legal process.

Meanwhile, Duterte’s defense team is assessing the best timing to bring the issue before the Supreme Court.

“I do not want to say anything against the court. ‘Yan po ang naging pasya ng senator-judges. We have to respect that, but that doesn’t mean we do not have legal remedies,” defense counsel and spokesperson Michael Poa said in a press conference.

“‘Yung pag-akyat sa Supreme Court is a real possibility. As to when, we will have to discuss with our client… Everything is on the table,” he said.

“Obviously, I can’t say I’m overly overjoyed or happy about it… That’s part of a trial, and sa atin, there are always legal remedies available, so it’s not as if we will lose sleep over this.”

Lead defense counsel Sheila Sison earlier noted that Duterte’s camp will continue participating in the impeachment process, but will proceed ad cautelam or with caution.

“The best we can do right now is to do our job well as defense counsel, but also put on record that whatever we do will be ad cautelam, meaning without prejudice to further remedies,” Poa said.

“It [the decision on the voting threshold] hasn’t even changed our strategy one bit except that we have to put things ad cautelam lang,” he said.

“It hasn’t changed our game plan. Tuloy-tuloy pa rin naman kami at alam pa rin naman namin ‘yung gagawin namin.”