Vice President Sara Duterte,speaks to the members of the media during Press Conference at OVP Central Office, Mandaluyong City on Friday, February 7, 2025. Arnel Tacson, INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — If the Philippines needs saving, it should be from Vice President Sara Duterte and her family, Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña said on Friday.
Duterte uttered the words “God save the Philippines” during a press briefing on Friday in delivering her reaction to the House of Representatives’ move to impeach her.
READ: VP Sara Duterte on her impeachment: ‘God save the Philippines’
In a statement, Cendaña said Duterte’s plea to save the Philippines is “deeply ironic coming from someone who has consistently failed to save public funds from misuse, protect education from corruption, and defend our fisherfolk and frontliners from China’s harassment in the West Philippine Sea
“If anyone should be saying ‘God save the Philippines’, it’s the people suffering from her and her family’s corruption, incompetence, and impunity,” he added.
In an online briefing later on, Cendaña also urged Duterte to check herself first before making such remarks.
“She should shiver at the thought of saying ‘God save the Philippines’ when she failed to save the Department of Education (DepEd) from corruption. She failed to save the confidential and intelligence funds from anomalies,” he said in Filipino.
Duterte appeared to be high-spirited despite the House impeaching her last Wednesday, after 215 lawmakers signed and endorsed the fourth impeachment complaint, allowing for a quick transmittal to the Senate.
Under the 1987 Constitution, an impeachment complaint could be immediately forwarded to the Senate for a trial if over one-third of all House members — 102 out of 306 — have signed and endorsed the petition.
READ: House impeaches VP Sara Duterte, fast-tracking transmittal to Senate
On Thursday, 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez said that 24 more lawmakers signed the fourth impeachment complaint, bringing the total to 239.
However, it is unclear if the lawmakers who failed to immediately sign the fourth complaint would still be included in the verified complaint.
There were seven articles of impeachment in the verified complaint sent to the Senate:
- Betrayal of public trust, commission of high crimes due to her threats to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez
- Betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption due to misuse of confidential funds of the DepEd and the Office of the Vice President
- Betrayal of public trust and bribery within the DepEd
- Violation of the 1987 Constitution and betrayal of public trust due to unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets
- Commission of high crimes, due to involvement in extrajudicial killings in the drug war
- Betrayal of public trust due to alleged destabilization plots and high crimes of sedition and insurrection
- Betrayal of public trust due to her unbecoming conduct as Vice President