MANILA – Senator-judge Panfilo Lacson said the Sandiganbayan’s denial of detained Sen. Jinggoy Estrada’s request to attend the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte may no longer require action from the Senate impeachment court on a separate proposal involving detained senator-judges.

Lacson said the anti-graft court’s ruling could make it unnecessary for the impeachment court to act on Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano’s pending motion asking the Senate to communicate with the Sandiganbayan to allow Estrada and Sen. Rodante Marcoleta to participate in the trial.

“That would spare the Impeachment Court from acting on the pending motion of Senator-Judge Alan Cayetano for us to ‘ask the Sandiganbayan to allow Senators Estrada (and Marcoleta) to participate in the impeachment trial’, which may impliedly suggest that we are interfering with an ongoing judicial process,” Lacson said.

He clarified, however, that the matter should still be discussed by the senator-judges, emphasizing that the statement reflected only his “humble opinion.”

Earlier, the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division denied Estrada’s motion seeking temporary leave from detention, ruling that the request lacked merit.

Estrada had argued that his role as a senator-judge in the impeachment trial constituted a compelling reason for the court to allow him to attend the proceedings despite being under preventive detention.

Cayetano earlier asked the Senate impeachment court to communicate with the Sandiganbayan to seek permission for Estrada and Marcoleta, who are both facing plunder and graft charges before the anti-graft court, to participate in the impeachment proceedings.

The proposal was raised after Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero reiterated that at least 16 votes are required to convict the Vice President in the impeachment trial.