De Lima bars Marcoleta from ‘resurrecting’ settled impeachment matters

MANILA, Philippines — Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila De Lima on Wednesday barred Sagip Rep. Paolo Marcoleta from raising “settled” matters during Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment hearing.

House Committee on Justice Chairperson Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro approved De Lima’s motion to prevent Marcoleta from revisiting “double standard” accusations, which De Lima said had already been “resurrected” several times.

In his manifestation, Marcoleta claimed there appears to be “inconsistency” in how the House panel’s rules are applied between Duterte’s impeachment proceedings and those against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“May I make a manifestation as regards to my observation on how the rules were applied between the Marcos and the Duterte complaints, there appears to be an inconsistency…” Marcoleta said before he was interrupted by De Lima, who raised a point of order, which Luistro granted.

READ: Sara Duterte lawyers hit ‘double standards’ in treatment of impeach raps

De Lima countered: “Those matters have been tackled already, exhaustively discussed in the course of the proceedings for the determination in substance, sufficiency in substance as well as the determination of sufficiency in grounds.”

“That issue has been resurrected a few times already, and even the Honorable Chair has actually refuted that point, that there is no different treatment, and if there is any different treatment is because it’s mandated or it’s called for, necessitated by the specific facts of these cases,” he added.

Luistro said De Lima’s point of order to “not allow” Marcoleta to bring up settled matters is “sustained.”

“So I hope we will conclude on our manifestation pertaining to the alleged double standard,” she also told Marcoleta, urging him to only bring up “germane” matters in his other manifestations.

At one point, Marcoleta once again asked whether he could “compare” the impeachment complaints against Duterte and Marcos.

“That is going back again to the issue of double standard,” Luistro said, to which Marcoleta said: “I defer to the authority of the chair.”

Marcos, Duterte impeachment raps

The House justice panel has already heard impeachment complaints against two individuals this year.

President Marcos faced two complaints over corruption allegations. The panel found them sufficient in form, but neither met the sufficiency in substance requirement.

Vice President Duterte, meanwhile, faces impeachment complaints, including allegations of confidential fund misuse.

The two complaints against her met the requirements for sufficiency in form, substance, and grounds, and the panel has now reached the hearing proper stage to determine probable cause for impeachment.

Marcoleta’s previous impeachment query 

Last week, Marcoleta said he was unaware of any rule governing the process for determining the sufficiency of grounds in Duterte’s impeachment complaints.

READ: ‘Read the rules’: Solons told after Marcoleta’s impeachment query

He also questioned the sequence in which the sufficiency in form, substance, and grounds was conducted.

In response to his previous queries, Luistro said the panel’s proceedings are “strictly consistent” with the House impeachment rules. /mcm