Senate impeachment court to vote on conviction threshold for VP Duterte

The Senate impeachment court has cleared the way for a floor vote on the conviction threshold required to remove Vice President Sara Duterte from office. The body rejected a motion by Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano on Wednesday seeking to postpone the procedural vote.

Cayetano had proposed deferring the decision on whether the court must secure 16 votes to convict the Vice President. However, a majority of the senators-judges voted against the motion, allowing the court to proceed with the divisive floor debate.

The conviction threshold represents a critical procedural question that will determine the difficulty of removing Duterte from her position. The outcome of Wednesday's vote clears the path for the chamber to address this contentious issue directly in the coming proceedings.

The impeachment case against the Vice President continues to advance through the Senate's specialized court. The body now stands ready to tackle the threshold question that has proven divisive among lawmakers tasked with determining her fate.