​CERTIORARI FILED: SC Urged to Void Senate’s Modified 14-Vote Impeachment Threshold.

The issue centers on a constitutional dispute over the required voting threshold to convict Vice President Sara Duterte in her Senate impeachment trial: ​The Senate's New Rule: On September 23, 2026, the Senate Impeachment Tribunal voted 13–1 to lower the conviction requirement from 16 votes (two-thirds of the full 24-member Senate) to 14 votes. They based the two-thirds calculation on the 20 active senator-judges deemed "legally and factually capable of participating," excluding members who are absent, detained, or incapacitated. ​The Petition: Former Executive Secretary Victor Rodriguez filed a Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition with the Supreme Court on September 24, 2026, requesting a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to block the ruling. ​The Core Argument: Rodriguez argues that Article XI, Section 3(6) of the Constitution explicitly mandates the concurrence of "two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate" (16 votes). He contends that the Senate committed grave abuse of discretion by altering a fixed constitutional threshold through an internal procedural vote, effectively rewriting the Constitution.