The Illusion of Formal Constancy: Semantics, Substance, and the Erosion of Constitutional Supermajority in the Theater of Impeachment
The Illusion of Formal Constancy: Semantics, Substance, and the Erosion of Constitutional Supermajority in the Theater of Impeachment
Amiel Gerald A. Roldan™
September 8, 2026
In the austere architecture of constitutional design, the supermajority requirement stands as a deliberate bulwark against transient passion and factional convenience. It is not a mere arithmetic convenience but a philosophical commitment to the gravity of judgment when the sovereign power of removal is exercised against a high officer of the state. The recent contention advanced by Senator Raffy Tulfo—that a recalibration of the Senate’s voting denominator from the full complement of twenty-four members to a reduced body of twenty does not constitute a lowering of the constitutional threshold—exposes a profound tension between the letter of the text and the practical ontology of political power. To claim fidelity to the two-thirds fraction while engineering a reduction in the absolute number of votes required for conviction is to traffic in semantic alchemy: the fraction remains numerically identical, yet the substantive barrier is lowered from sixteen to fourteen. This maneuver does not preserve the Constitution; it dissolves its protective rigor under the solvent of procedural ingenuity.
The Constitution of the Philippines, in its unequivocal command that conviction require “two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate,” institutes a fixed referent. The phrase “all the Members” is not an elastic category contingent upon attendance, disability, or strategic absence; it is an institutional constant that anchors the legitimacy of the impeachment court in the full corporate body of the Senate as constituted. To exclude four senators from the denominator is to rewrite the text by implication, substituting “two-thirds of those who can or will participate” for the original formulation. Such a substitution recalls the classic distinction, drawn in analytical jurisprudence, between the core of a rule and its penumbra of uncertainty. H.L.A. Hart’s insight that rules possess an open texture does not license the judicial or senatorial invention of exceptions that defeat the rule’s purpose. The purpose here is precisely to make conviction difficult—difficult enough that only a broad, cross-factional consensus can achieve it. Difficulty is not a defect to be remedied; it is the designed feature of the system.
Tulfo’s invocation of *Avelino v. Cuenco* attempts to conscript an earlier precedent concerning quorum into the service of a different institutional logic. Yet the analogy falters under scrutiny. Quorum rules govern the capacity of a body to convene and deliberate; the impeachment threshold governs the gravity of the ultimate sanction. Pia Cayetano’s challenge correctly underscores that the Senate has never transposed the *Avelino* logic into the domain of conviction. To do so now would be to treat the Constitution as a living instrument in the most opportunistic sense: not evolving through principled interpretation, but mutating to accommodate the contingencies of a particular trial. Ronald Dworkin’s conception of law as integrity demands that constitutional provisions be read as coherent with the moral and structural principles that justify their existence. The principle justifying a fixed two-thirds of all members is the principle that the removal of a vice president ought not to rest upon the fortuitous composition of the day’s attendance or the strategic withdrawal of certain members. Integrity forbids the selective exclusion that converts a high barrier into a lower one.
The practical arithmetic is unforgiving and reveals the deeper contradiction. With twenty-four senators, sixteen affirmative votes are required; nine negative or abstaining votes suffice to block conviction. With twenty senators, fourteen affirmative votes suffice; only seven opposing votes are needed to defeat the measure. Thus the proposal simultaneously lowers the threshold for conviction and lowers the threshold for obstruction. The very “acquittal by default” that Tulfo appears to fear is rendered more attainable under his own formula. This is not a paradox of mathematics but a revelation of institutional design: the Constitution anticipates that failure to assemble the requisite supermajority results in acquittal. That outcome is not a loophole; it is the residual consequence of a deliberately elevated standard. To adjust the denominator because the standard has become “difficult” is to invert the relationship between rule and reality. Reality is to be measured against the rule, not the rule against the convenience of the moment.
Philosophically, the dispute stages a confrontation between two conceptions of constitutional meaning. One is formalist and originalist in temper: the words mean what they say, and “all the Members” refers to the institutional total established by the electoral and constitutional order. The other is adaptive and consequentialist: the words may be stretched to achieve what the interpreter deems a more rational or just outcome under present circumstances. The latter approach, however, carries an esoteric danger. Once the fixed referent is abandoned, the supermajority ceases to be a stable constraint and becomes a negotiable variable. In the language of Wittgenstein, the constitutional “language-game” of impeachment is altered not by explicit amendment but by a quiet shift in the criteria of application. The form of the rule is preserved while its force is attenuated. Such attenuation is the classic pathway by which written constraints lose their binding character and become mere aspirations.
Moreover, the proposal implicates the deeper republican anxiety concerning the concentration and diffusion of power. Impeachment is the ultimate political judgment short of revolution or election. Its supermajority requirement is a structural expression of the principle that the people, through their representatives, must speak with amplified clarity when they choose to unmake an elected official mid-term. To dilute that clarity by shrinking the relevant community of judgment is to dilute the democratic legitimacy of the act itself. Chiz Escudero’s observation that lowering the denominator also lowers the number of votes needed to defeat conviction is therefore not a mere tactical rejoinder; it is a recognition that the institutional equilibrium is bilateral. The same arithmetic that eases conviction eases its frustration. The Constitution, in setting a fixed high bar, seeks equilibrium rather than partisan advantage in either direction.
In the final analysis, the contradiction is not subtle. One cannot simultaneously affirm that the constitutional fraction remains untouched while advocating a formula that reduces the absolute number of votes required for the most consequential political sanction available under the Charter. The claim of non-reduction is a rhetorical shield for a substantive reduction. Beneath the procedural language lies a philosophical choice: whether the Constitution is a fixed architecture that disciplines political will, or a flexible instrument that political will may reshape according to the pressures of the hour. The text, the structure, and the deliberative history of the Senate’s own prior ruling that sixteen votes are required all point toward the former. To choose the latter is to begin the slow unravelling of the very constraints that make constitutional government more than the temporary dominance of the stronger faction.
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Amiel Gerald A. Roldan™' s connection to the Asian Cultural Council (ACC) serves as a defining pillar of his professional journey, most recently celebrated through the launch of the ACC Global Alumni Network.As a 2003 Starr Foundation Grantee, Roldan participated in a transformative ten-month fellowship in the United States. This opportunity allowed him to observe contemporary art movements, engage with an international community of artists and curators, and develop a new body of work that bridges local and global perspectives.Featured Work: Bridges Beyond Borders His featured work, Bridges Beyond Borders: ACC's Global Cultural Collaboration, has been chosen as the visual identity for the newly launched ACC Global Alumni Network.Symbol of Connection: The piece represents a private collaborative space designed to unite over 6,000 ACC alumni across various disciplines and regions.Artistic Vision: The work embodies the ACC's core mission of advancing international dialogue and cultural exchange to foster a more harmonious world.Legacy of Excellence: By serving as the face of this initiative, Roldan's art highlights the enduring impact of the ACC fellowship on his career and his role in the global artistic community.Just featured at https://www.pressenza.com/2026/01/the-asian-cultural-council-global-alumni-network-amiel-gerald-a-roldan/
He is a Filipino multidisciplinary visual artist, printmaker, painter, independent curator, researcher, writer, and cultural worker whose practice spans contemporary art, curatorial work, and cultural advocacy. He has been active in the Philippine art scene since the late 1990s and has worked with galleries, museums, artist-run spaces, and international cultural organizations.
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A multidisciplinary Filipino artist, poet, researcher, and cultural worker whose practice spans painting, printmaking, photography, installation, and writing. He is deeply rooted in cultural memory, postcolonial critique, and in bridging creative practice with scholarly infrastructure—building counter-archives, annotating speculative poetry like Southeast Asian manuscripts, and fostering regional solidarity through ethical art collaboration.
He has been active in the Philippine art scene since the late 1990s and has worked with galleries, museums, artist-run spaces, and international cultural organizations.His practice appears to represent several interconnected concerns:
Cultural work as artistic practice. Roldan has argued that the labor of curating, organizing exhibitions, teaching, documentation, and cultural administration should be understood as creative work rather than merely support work. This perspective has been reflected in his writings and exhibitions.
Social and political engagement. His artworks frequently address politics, religion, faith, denial, courage, social inequality, and the everyday experiences of Filipinos. He has stated that he draws inspiration from Filipino cultural practices while approaching painting, printmaking, and installation from a conceptual perspective.Printmaking and conceptual art. Roldan is particularly recognized for his printmaking, with works shown internationally, including exhibitions in Japan and France. His practice also encompasses painting, photography, installation, and curatorial research.International cultural exchange. A significant milestone in his career was receiving an Asian Cultural Council fellowship in 2003, which enabled him to undertake research and create work in the United States while engaging with artists and curators internationally.
More broadly, Roldan's work represents an attempt to bridge artistic production, curatorial practice, scholarship, and cultural activism . His writings often emphasize postcolonial discourse, cultural memory, and the ethics of artistic collaboration, positioning the artist not only as a maker of objects but also as a builder of cultural infrastructure.
In the Philippine contemporary art context, he can be understood as representing the figure of the artist-curator-cultural worker —someone who contributes both through making artworks and through developing exhibitions, mentoring artists, and fostering institutional and independent cultural initiatives.
Recent show at ILOMOCA
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