Impeach rap filed vs VP gets Akbayan backing

OUSTING SARA House of Representatives Secretary General Reginald Velasco (left) on Monday receives from former Sen. Leila de Lima the impeachment complaint that civil society groups filed against Vice President Sara Duterte. At right is Akbayan Rep. Percival Cendaña, who endorsed the complaint. —Lyn Rillon

MANILA, Philippines — Citing five of the six grounds for impeachment in the 1987 Constitution, 16 individuals from various civil society and advocacy groups as well as relatives of the victims of the bloody drug war filed on Monday a complaint in the House of Representatives for the ouster of Vice President Sara Duterte.

All but treason was listed as a ground for Duterte’s impeachment in the 33-page complaint, former Sen. Leila de Lima, the group’s designated spokesperson, pointed out.

The chamber’s secretary general, Reginald Velasco, formally received the impeachment complaint at 4:30 p.m. and assured the petitioners that it would be acted on, although he initially said that Congress would not have enough time to undertake the process.

READ: Marcos: VP Duterte unimportant; impeach rap waste of time

Among those who filed the complaint in their personal capacity were former presidential adviser on the peace process Teresita Deles; Catholic priests Flaviano Villanueva and Robert Reyes; nuns Susan Santos Esmile and Mary Grace de Guzman; political science lecturer Francis Joseph Aquino Dee; Gary Alejano, Maria Yvonne Cristina Jereza and Eugene Louie Gonzalez, all of the Magdalo group; Alice Murphy of the Urban Poor Associates; Sylvia Estrada Claudio, former dean of the University of the Philippines’ College of Social Work and Community Development; singer Lea Navarro; and Randy Francisco delos Santos, uncle of drug war casualty Kian delos Santos.

Duterte’s office said requests for comment on the impeachment complaint had been relayed to the Vice President.

Impeachable offenses

De Lima cited the following as grounds for Duterte’s impeachment: culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.

It cited nine articles under culpable violation of the Charter and graft and corruption; four articles under bribery and illegal wealth accumulation; two for betrayal of public trust, particularly abandoning duties during Super Typhoon Carina (international name: Gaemi) and leaving for Germany amid a crisis as well as her failure to condemn Chinese aggression in the West Philippine Sea; and nine articles for other high crimes.

De Lima pointed out that also included in the 24 articles was Duterte’s failure to account for P612.5 million in confidential funds from the last quarter of 2022 to the first three quarters of 2023, both in the Office of the Vice President and of the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as secretary.

“There’s also the ground of [her] threats, rants during the press conference on Oct. 18 and the second in November 2024 because these are actually betrayal of public trust because these are also high crimes, the threats in her latest rants or her meltdown,” De Lima said, adding that another article of impeachment was Duterte’s alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City when she was mayor.

She pointed out that another article involved P7 billion in unliquidated cash advances as well as alleged rigged bidding for laptops and electronic devices at DepEd during Duterte’s tenure.

President’s advice

Also included in the complaint were Duterte and her family’s alleged receipt of hundreds of millions of pesos from drug personalities and her reported coddling, defense and enabling of televangelist Apollo Quiboloy’s crimes.

The former lawmaker stressed in Filipino that “this (impeachment complaint) is really the decision of these private individuals, coming from various groups, who filed because we did not want to join any move of people in the government, including the President.”

LOYALTY TO PEOPLE Leaders of civil society groups who filed an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte (right) say their decision to proceed with the ouster move is meant to show their loyalty to the people. —Lyn Rillon/Niño Jesus Orbeta

She was referring to President Marcos’ advice last week to put off impeachment proceedings against Duterte.

The National Security Council (NSC), for its part, on Monday backed the President’s call.

In an interview over government television, NSC Assistant Director General Jonathan Malaya said the agency shared the position that any impeachment bid against Duterte would distract the nation from the more important issues it needed to confront.

But Malaya said the NSC was “alarmed [by] and condemns” the insistence of members of the Makabayan bloc.

“What the NSC sees here is how the Makabayan bloc pushes the very firm Maoist Joma Sison ideology of stirring conflict among the powers-that-be” to create an “impression of instability,” he said.

But Akbayan party list Rep. Percival Cendaña, who endorsed the impeachment complaint, said in Filipino: “The loyalty of our civil society leaders is to the people. Progressive forces who want to hold Duterte accountable cannot be dictated upon.”

Not enough time

“As to the timeline, we leave it to the leadership of Congress but this comes with a reminder that we are duty-bound in the House to give this complaint a fair day in court,” the lawmaker pointed out.

Earlier on Monday, Velasco said that once an impeachment complaint is filed, it is forwarded to the Speaker, who then submits it to the House committee on rules. The panel then refers it to the plenary session for formal submission to the justice committee.

He said that the entire process would take 130 days but the House must initially act on the complaint within 10 session days after receipt.

“So after filing, we won’t have enough time because we only have nine session days remaining until Dec. 18” when Congress goes on break, Velasco told reporters.

The House acts as the sole prosecutor at an impeachment trial in the Senate, which has the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. —with a report from Melvin GasconA, and Inquirer Research