Camille Villar asks colleagues for 'due respect' for detained senators during voting threshold discussions
Senator-judge Camille Villar on Wednesday, Sept. 23, made an emotional plea to her colleagues for some "respect" during Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial as the senator-judges discussed the voting threshold for conviction.
Villar gave a manifestation in response to senator-judge Erwin Tulfo's earlier manifestation where he said that "the present reality is that some of our members are beyond the coercive power or jurisdiction of the Senate."
"One is on medical leave abroad with no definite return date. Another is in hiding. Two others are under the custody of the Sandiganbayan or the Bureau of Jail Management," Tulfo said.
"Ito po ang factual circumstances na umiiral ngayon. At hindi naman po ito umiiral noong tayo ay nagsisimula pa lamang sa ating proceedings," he continued.
He went on to say that the 1987 Constitution was written soon after martial law when the cases against senators involved subversion, sedition, and rebellion, not criminal cases like plunder, as two senators are currently charged with.
"Kaya po iniisip nila na ang mga senador na hanggang ngayon ay hindi po makakasuhan ng mga teribleng kaso," Tulfo said.
In her manifestation, Villar spoke up for her absent colleagues, saying, "I think we should be reminded that the senators that are being detained and who are not here right now, that is not their choice."
"And I think it's unfair to call them out that their crimes are of plunder and of theft, because none of those senators have been convicted. There are a lot of questions about why they're not even here in the first place," Villar continued.
"As the youngest of this august body, can we stop it with these attacks on each other? We are senators of the Philippines. Let us give each other due respect. Let's give Filipinos due respect," she said.
Fighting back tears, Villar added, "Lahat naman po ng wala dito, hindi naman po sila napatunayan na may sala. Hindi po sila plunderer. Hindi po sila magnanakaw."
In support of Villar, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano also spoke up, explaining his colleague's plea.
"We visit kasi our colleagues. And visibly, 'di ba Mr. President, Presiding Officer, visibly, they're upset also with everything that's happening, from their own liberty, from them not able to participate, from the threshold being changed. But we're all trying to do our best," Cayetano said.
To further explain his position, Tulfo took the podium again to apologize if he had caused offense, though he stood his ground.
"Kung may nasaktan po sa nabanggit ko tungkol sa ilan nating mga kasamahan, ako'y humihingi ng paumanhin," he said. "Ngunit linawin ko lamang po, Ginoong Presiding Officer, Ginoong Pangulo, wala po akong sinabing convicted na plunderer ang ilang kasamahan natin. Ang sinabi ko po ay 'charged with'."
"Further, the statements were not attacks against our fellow senators but merely confronting the present reality that some senators are physically or legally unable to participate in the impeachment trial," Tulfo continued.
He said the issue of detained senators cannot be isolated from that of the voting threshold.
"We cannot discuss baseline without touching on the reasons why four of our senators are absent," he said. "Bakit natin pinag-uusapan at ire-raise ang issue kung sino ang bibilangin kung lahat po tayo ay narito?"
Lower voting threshold for impeachment conviction
At the opening of the impeachment trial, Presiding Officer Senator-Judge Francis Escudero said that the threshold needed to convict is 16, or two-thirds of the 24 members of the Senate. However, Article XI Section 3 (6) of the 1987 Constitution did not specify a number, only stating that the voting threshold is two-thirds of all members of the upper chamber.
However, on Sept. 8, Tulfo filed a motion asking the Court to reconsider the interpretation as four senators are absent from the trial.
On Sept. 23, Cayetano filed a motion to defer the deliberations on the voting threshold, saying the issue should have been resolved at the beginning of the trial. He added that the interpretation of the Constitution should be left to the Supreme Court. Still, the Senate Impeachment Court on the same day voted to reject Cayetano's bid.
Later in the day, 13 senator-judges voted in favor of Tulfo's appeal to revisit the 16-vote threshold to convict. One voted in the negative, while Cayetano, Villar, and fellow senator-judges Pia Cayetano, Robin Padilla, Bong Go, and Imee Marcos did not participate in the voting.
Currently, senator-judges Bato Dela Rosa, Jinggoy Estrada, Rodante Marcoleta, and Loren Legarda have been absent from the impeachment proceedings.
Dela Rosa is currently supposedly in hiding after having quietly left the Senate building on May 14, 2026. On Nov. 6, 2025, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Dela Rosa for alleged crimes against humanity in connection to former President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs. The warrant was unsealed and confirmed on May 11, 2026.
Estrada surrendered to authorities on June 1 after the Sandiganbayan 5th Division issued a warrant of arrest over a non-bailable plunder charge in connection to his alleged involvement in the flood control scandal. He is currently detained at the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas. On June 17, he was put under a 90-day preventive suspension ordered by the Sandiganbayan.
Marcoleta surrendered on July 6 after the Sandiganbayan 3rd Division served an arrest warrant against him for non-bailable plunder charges over his undeclared P75 million in campaign donations. He is currently detained at the New Quezon City Jail in Payatas.
Legarda left the country with her son, Batangas Rep. Leandro Leviste, on Aug. 2 bound for France, a trip she filed as medical leave. She has since filed for several extensions of the leave.
The Senate Impeachment Court is now on the 29th day of Duterte's trial.
