Politics
Senate impeachment court drops its fixed 16-vote rule
September 30, 2026
The Senate Impeachment Court voted 13-0 to lower the threshold to impeach VP Sara Duterte (Photo credit: Manila Bulletin)
What happened?
The Senate impeachment court voted 13–1 to allow only senators “legally and factually capable of participating” in the current proceedings to render a verdict on VP Sara Duterte’s trial. Sen. Mark Villar broke rank from the minority bloc twice: first, by abstaining from his group’s move to block the threshold vote, and second, by voting with the majority to lower the 16-vote rule for convicting the VP. Notably, the Villar family, including Senators Mark and Camille Villar, is facing criminal and administrative complaints over PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp’s water district deals, recently filed by the Ombudsman. The other six senator-judges from the minority did not participate in the rule vote.
Insights
The lower threshold could make conviction more attainable. If 20 senators qualify for the final vote, only 14 votes are needed to convict. A potential coalition of 13 majority senators, plus Sen Mark Villar from the minority, could reach that number. Sen. Chiz Escudero opposed lowering the threshold, but he could still vote with the majority on the charges.
Before the minority bloc boycotted the lower threshold vote, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano warned that changing the threshold mid-trial “risks a mistrial and ignores political pressure on absent opposition senators”. Their eventual walkout fueled public perception that this latest development in the impeachment trial was a coordinated political effort against VP Sara, rather than a neutral procedural decision.