MANILA — The House prosecution team said Wednesday it would focus on presenting evidence strong enough to secure the constitutionally required two-thirds vote to convict Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, leaving it to the Senate impeachment court to determine how many votes that threshold represents.

House impeachment prosecutor Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores said the prosecution would not tailor its case to the disputed numerical threshold and would instead rely on the evidence presented before the tribunal.

“Ang amin lang is, like, we stick to the principle that we will sink or swim with the evidence that we will be presenting before the impeachment court,” Flores said at a press briefing.

His remarks came after the impeachment court heard differing interpretations from four retired Supreme Court justices on how the two-thirds requirement under the Constitution should be computed.

Retired Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., in a memorandum submitted to the court, argued that the threshold should be based on senators qualified to vote rather than the full 24-member Senate.

Retired Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban and Reynato Puno likewise advanced interpretations under which the required number could vary depending on which senators may legally be counted.

Retired Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna took the opposite position, maintaining that all sitting senators should form the denominator in determining the two-thirds threshold.

Flores said the prosecution did not consider the amici curiae presentations as validating its position because it had consistently deferred to the Senate on the matter.

“Sa akin dito, walang validation doon. Kasi ever since, we’ve always relied on the Senate, kung anong decision nila in terms of the threshold,” Flores said.

He noted that the prosecution did not challenge Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s earlier ruling setting 16 votes as the requirement, based on two-thirds of the Senate’s 24 members.

“In fact, when Presiding Officer Chiz made that ruling before, you never heard anything from the prosecution,” Flores said.

House impeachment team spokesperson Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said the prosecution would likewise abide by whatever determination the impeachment court makes on the computation.

“We will again rely on the Senate’s decision, and we will comply on the Senate’s decision as so far as how they would go about the requirement ng two-thirds vote,” Alonto Adiong said.

Flores said the prosecution therefore remains focused on the evidence regardless of the eventual vote count.

“Whether it’s 16, 14, or 13, we’re really just focused on presenting the evidence,” he said.

He said prosecutors have yet to finalize a collective position on the threshold following Wednesday’s amici hearing as they continue to assess the arguments presented by the retired justices.

Flores, however, said there is no disagreement among prosecutors over the constitutional fraction required for conviction.

“If there’s one thing na hindi kami nagdi-disagree on, it’s that the threshold is still two-thirds,” Flores said.

The disagreement, he said, concerns the number of votes that would constitute two-thirds under the circumstances of the impeachment trial.

Alonto Adiong said the amici presentations showed competing approaches to interpreting the constitutional provision, including a literal reading and a contextual or functional approach that considers whether senators are legally and physically capable of serving as senator-judges.

Davide did not personally appear before the court and instead submitted a memorandum that was read into the record. Panganiban, Puno and Azcuna personally appeared as amici curiae.

The four retired justices were asked to address which senators should be counted in determining the conviction threshold, the possible relevance of the 1949 Supreme Court ruling in Avelino v. Cuenco, and whether senator-judges who did not attend or substantially participate in the trial may validly cast a final vote.

The House prosecution and Duterte’s defense are scheduled to present their respective arguments on the threshold issue before the impeachment court on Sept. 23.