The debate on whether or not the conviction vote threshold should be lowered in Vice President Sara Duterte's Senate impeachment trial is no reason to delay the conduct of the trial itself.

Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro had this to say Thursday, June 18, as she led the House prosecution team in attending the pre-trial conference for the high-stakes trial.

All 11 members of the prosecution panel were on hand Thursday morning during the closed-door conference at the Senate in Pasay City.

Luistro says the trial is expected to run for several months, giving senator-judges ample time to address the matter before voting on the case.

“Mahaba pa itong trial na ito. Sa estimate ko nga, abutin ito hanggang end of September (This trial will still be long. In my estimate, it will reach until the end of September),” she said.

“So ‘yung sinasabi natin na hihinto to give way to this prejudicial question, I don’t think sapagkat sa dulo pa natin kakailanganin actually ‘yung certainty as to the number of votes required for the purpose of conviction,” noted the lawyer-legislator.

(So when we say it will stop to give way to this prejudicial question, I don’t think so, because we would only need at the actually the certainty as to the number of votes required for the purpose of conviction.)

Luistro was referring to the ongoing debate over whether the constitutional requirement of a two-thirds vote for conviction should be based on the Senate’s full membership (16 out of 24) or only on senators who are able to participate in the proceedings.

Some congressmen have said that the threshold should be 15, since only 22 senator-judges are currently able to reasonably perform their duties.

The chairperson of the House Committee on Justice said the issue primarily concerns Senate procedure and may ultimately fall within the chamber’s constitutional authority to govern its own affairs.

“As a general rule, justiciable question ‘yan (that is a justiciable) because it pertains the procedure in the Senate,” Luistro said.

She noted that the Supreme Court (SC) had previously declined to intervene in disputes involving Senate leadership, ruling that such matters are political questions best resolved by the Senate itself.

“At kamuka nitong petition about the leadership, di ba dinismiss ng Supreme Court? (And like this petition before the leadership, wasn't this dismissed by the Supreme Court?) They refuse to resolve the issue for the reason that it is a political question which belongs exclusively to the constitutional autonomy of the Senate,” she said.

The actual impeachment trial is set to begin on July 6.