00:00of Senator Judge Alan Cayetano that in behalf of some of our Senator Judge members that they
00:08will not participate, the Chair would like to place on record the actual vote as reflected
00:14based on the 20 members who responded to the roll call earlier. For the record,
00:26Senators Alan Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Senator Goh, Senator Marcos, Senator Villar Camille,
00:33and Senator Robin Padilla did not participate in the vote. With the casting of a nay vote by the
00:41presiding officer, 13 voted in the affirmative in favor of the appeal of Senator Judge Irwin
00:48Tulfo. It is therefore 13 affirmative votes, one negative votes, and six did not participate.
00:57For the record, while the Chair takes exception to this decision, the Chair nonetheless accepts it
01:04as a judgment of this Court and is bound to give it effect. The presiding officer, after all, is not
01:10the Court. He is merely the custodian of the process, not the proprietor of its outcome.
01:19This is the essence of democracy, that disagreement be preserved without obstruction and that lawful
01:25result be obeyed without resentment. This is the tradition that gives the strength and legitimacy
01:31to the Senate, whether we sit as a legislative body or as an impeachment court. We allow the
01:37fullest ventilation of views, even if those views differ sharply from our own. But at the end of the
01:43day, we vote. We abide by the judgment of the majority, even if we disagree with it.
01:53Accordingly, the Chair accepts and declares the ruling adopted by the Court as the new controlling
01:59ruling upon further proceedings, and the Chair shall apply this ruling faithfully. For the guidance of
02:06the parties, Senator Judges and the public, the Chair hereby restates the new controlling ruling of the
02:13Court as follows. To determine the two-thirds concurrence required for conviction under Article 11,
02:21Section 3.6 of the Constitution, the phrase,
02:26all members of the Senate, quote-unquote,
02:29shall refer to those members who, at the time of the vote,
02:33remain legally and factually capable of participating in the proceedings.
02:36Accordingly,
02:38the computation shall exclude members who are,
02:41number one, detained and or suspended or otherwise legally restrained from exercising the
02:47functions of a senator,
02:48number two, persons sought by authorities whose whereabouts are unknown,
02:52number three, suffering from a physical or medical incapacity,
02:56number four, beyond the coercive processes of the Senate,
02:59and number five, others similarly situated.
03:05The Chair shall also proceed, given the outcome of the vote,
03:09to give guidelines on the new controlling ruling.
03:14Given the new controlling ruling of the Court on the threshold vote,
03:18the Chair sets forth the following guidelines to give full effect to the said ruling.
03:27First,
03:29this ruling and interpretation of the Court shall operate pro-hac-vice,
03:34or for this occasion only.
03:37It shall not constitute a binding precedent in any future impeachment proceedings.
03:42This is a ruling, not an amendment of the rules.
03:46As such,
03:47it has no binding but merely persuasive effect on future impeachment proceedings,
03:53the hands of whom we cannot shackle as there is no starry decisis as between impeachment courts.
04:00Further,
04:01the circumstances that gave rise to this ruling are extraordinary.
04:06It has never happened before,
04:09and the Chair hopes that it shall never happen again.
04:12Second,
04:14the impeachment court shall determine on the basis of competent and sufficient evidence
04:18whether a member falls within any of the five circumstances mentioned in the new controlling ruling.
04:26The remaining members shall then constitute the denominator
04:30from which the required two-thirds concurrence shall be computed.
04:35Third,
04:37where the computation of two-thirds results in a fraction,
04:41the number of votes required for conviction shall be rounded up to the next higher whole number,
04:49even if the fraction is less than 0.5.
04:53For example,
04:55if the denominator is 20,
04:59two-thirds is 13 and one-third, or 13.33.
05:02If we round it down to 13,
05:0513 votes would fall short of the constitutionally required two-thirds concurrence,
05:11which is 13.33.
05:14Since a fraction of a vote is impossible,
05:17as there is no fraction of a Senator,
05:2213.33,
05:23again,
05:24by way of example only,
05:25must be rounded up to 14 votes,
05:28the next higher whole number,
05:31to ensure that the votes for conviction constitute at least two-thirds of the relevant membership.
05:37This shall ensure that no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of
05:46the Senate
05:46as determined by the Court in this new controlling ruling
05:50and thus required under Article 11, Section 3.6 of the Constitution.
05:56So ordered.
05:58So ordered.
06:07So ordered.
06:08So ordered.
06:09So ordered.
06:10So ordered.
06:11So ordered.
