Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna has explained that 15 votes from senator-judges are sufficient to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte if Senator Ronald dela Rosa is considered a fugitive.
Constitutional Requirement
According to Azcuna, even if senators are not allowed to participate in the upcoming impeachment trial on July 6, they are still counted in the vote tally mandated by the Constitution, which requires two-thirds or 16 votes to convict the Vice President.
Constructive Resignation
However, Azcuna argued that Dela Rosa could be exempted from the count if he is treated as a fugitive, equivalent to what he called a "constructive resignation." Dela Rosa is currently in hiding following an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him.
Earlier, Dela Rosa was named as one of the alleged co-perpetrators of former President Rodrigo Duterte in a case of crimes against humanity due to the thousands of killings under the war on drugs.
