MISLEADING: Court dismisses impeachment case amid 16-vote cut denial

A Youtube video claims that the Supreme Court dismissed the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte amidst the rejection of a call to lower the 16-vote threshold for Duterte’s conviction in the trial.

CLAIM:

The video presents a graphic, claiming the proposal to lower the 16-vote threshold required to convict the vice president is rejected by Reginald Tongol, impeachment court spokesperson. More on, the caption of a post claims that the spokesperson warns of a change of rules, while the trial is underway.

Afterwards, the same claim appears as the reason for the supposed dismissal of Duterte’s impeachment case.

RATING: MISLEADING

CONCLUSION

While the Court has clarified how the current voting threshold may be reconsidered, no final decision has been made to lower the 16-vote threshold nor does it lead to dismissal of the impeachment case. Hence, the Impeachment trial of VP Duterte remains ongoing as the vote ruling does not, by itself, constitute a dismissal of the impeachment case.

THE FACTS:

• Court spokesperson Reginald Tongol clarified the 11 votes from the 20 active senator-judges could overturn the 16-vote threshold ruling, explaining the procedure rather than announcing that the proposal for such is rejected. 
• More on, the voting threshold matter is still under deliberation as the Senate Impeachment Court invited retired Supreme Court justices to serve as amici curiae, who will provide opinions on the proper voting threshold. 
• Changing the conviction threshold does not automatically lead to dismissal of the impeachment case. Even if the court were to overturn its previous 16-vote ruling, that would only concern the number of votes needed for conviction. On the other hand, the impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte is still ongoing. 

THE BOTTOMLINE

The YouTube video is misleading as it falsely concludes that the issue regarding the 16-vote threshold ruling leads to dismissal of VP Duterte’s impeachment case, which may mislead the public on the current status of its trial.