Not enough evidence yet to impeach Duterte for mass murder—solons

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and President Rodrigo Duterte FILE PHOTOS

Lawmakers from the “Magnificent Seven” bloc on Thursday said there needs to be more solid evidence for an impeachment proceeding against President Rodrigo Duterte to prosper in Congress, a body dominated by a “supermajority” of administration allies.

In a press conference, the opposition solons admitted that an impeachment proceeding against Duterte at this time would prove to be difficult, even though the President had admitted himself that he personally killed drug suspects when he was Davao City mayor.

READ: Duterte: I personally killed drug suspects

“I think there should be more warranted evidence to initiate a credible proceeding,” Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman from the Liberal Party said.

Another Liberal lawmaker, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat, the leader of the independent minority bloc, said mass murder is a basis for impeachment.

But with a supermajority of allies supportive of Duterte, as well as his high public ratings, it would be difficult to impeach him for mass murder, Baguilat admitted.

“Crimes and murder can be a basis for impeachment move but the President can easily say that he said it in jest so in terms of really material evidence, maybe we can move the impeachment move,  (but) right now there’s not enough basis,” Baguilat said.

READ: Duterte admission he did killing just hyperbole?

“Impeachment is a political move. It’s always predicated on whether the person being impeached has lost trust and confidence. That’s something that is difficult right now to contest because of strong public support that President is having. But right now impeachment is difficult,” he added.

Duterte made the admission during the Wallace Business Forum in Malacañang on Monday.

He said he would ride his bike and go around Davao city seeking an encounter to kill.

“I know it because—I am not trying to pull my own chair—in Davao I used to do it personally. Just to show to the [policemen] that if I can do it, why can’t you?” Duterte said.

“I go around in Davao (on) a big bike and I would just patrol the streets and looking for trouble. I was really looking for an encounter to kill,” he added.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the President’s admission was only a “hyperbole.”

It was Senator Leila De Lima in an interview with CNN International who said Duterte may be impeached for mass murder, noting betrayal of public trust as a ground for impeachment.

READ: De Lima: Duterte may face impeachment for extrajudicial killings

“I should say that that is an impeachable offense. That is a culpable violation of the Constitution. That is betrayal of public trust and that constitutes high crimes because these are mass murders,” De Lima said.

“Mass murders certainly fall under the category of high crimes and high crimes is a ground for impeachment under our Constitution,” she added.

She added that she also feared for her life, after having initiated a Senate inquiry into the spate of extrajudicial killings of suspected drug pushers and users at the height of the administration’s war on drugs that has claimed over 6,000 lives.

“I’m not at all safe. I don’t feel safe because of what I’m doing. I have been warned by some friends within the Philippine National Police, that there is a serious security threat against me because of my vocal criticism of what the President is doing,” De Lima said.

READ: AI slams Duterte over claims on killing criminals 

“We do have an unfit President. He just confessed to doing the killing of people in Davao and we know that he’s the one encouraging, promoting, and I know that he is the one promoting and encouraging and tolerating these killings and therefore, that is an impeachable offense. What we have is mass murder,” De Lima said.

De Lima, who is abroad, said she does not plan to flee the accusations against her that she collected payoffs from drug lords at the New Bilibid Prison to finance her senatorial campaign bid when she was justice secretary.

“The President himself has been branding me as the queen of the drug trade in the Philippines. What a preposterous and ridiculous and absurd accusation. It’s all false. These are fabricated accusations. That’s why I’m not afraid to face those charges. I’m innocent, so why should I flee?” De Lima said.

READ: House justice body: Bilibid drugs flourished under De Lima’s watch 

House leaders dared De Lima to prove that Duterte’s kill claim was backed with solid evidence and was not just empty rhetoric.

“Hindi lang siya sinungaling, tanga din pala (She’s not just a liar, she’s stupid as well). You cannot just impeach an official for mere words. You have to prove the offense,” Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said.

“What if the President will say, ‘I was only joking’?” he added.

Majority leader Ilocos Norte Rep. Rudy Fariñas said the President could only be impeached for an act he committed as Chief Executive.

“What? The President said that such happened when he was a mayor patrolling the streets of Davao to keep them drug or crime free… The President could only be impeached by acts or omissions committed as President!” Fariñas said. JE/rga

READ: Alvarez twits ‘stupid’ De Lima for saying Duterte could be impeached