Manila, Sept. 16 -- The two-thirds threshold in Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial should be computed from senators legally and physically qualified to cast a vote, rather than automatically from the Senate's full 24-member roster, retired chief justice Hilario Davide Jr. said Wednesday.

The Constitution provides that no impeached official may be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all Senate members.

Davide laid down the position in a memorandum read into the Senate impeachment court record as senator-judges heard amici curiae on the meaning of "all the Members of the Senate" under Article XI, Section 3(6) of the Constitution.

As one of the framers of the delegates of the 1971 Constitutional Convention who ...