President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo shakes hands during the graduation rites of the Philippine Military Academy at Fort del Pilar in Baguio City, on March 12, 2017. (RTVM screengrab)
DAVAO CITY – President Duterte said on Sunday, he was not behind the planned filing of an impeachment complaint against Vice President Leni Robredo.
“Never did anything and I will not do anything about it,” Mr. Duterte said in a press conference before he left for Myanmar on Sunday afternoon.
Mr. Duterte refused to speculate on Robredo’s involvement on moves to unseat him.
“I will not be surprised if she is there. I will not speculate that she’s not there (either). Hindi ako nakikialam sa buhay niya. Sana huwag niyang pakialaman yung sa akin. Sa trabaho OK lang (I don’t meddle in her life. Hopefully, she will not meddle into my affairs. On work, that’s ok),” the President said.
“I never lifted a finger against anybody. I’m beyond politics. I do not want to tinker with it,” he said.
He said he has been focused on working and fulfilling his campaign promise of tackling corruption, drugs and criminality.
“I just want to focus on my job, which you have given me,” the President said.
On Friday, Duterte’s ally and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said he planned to file an impeachment complaint against Robredo for allegedly undermining the Duterte administration.
Alvarez issued the statement a day after Robredo sent a video message to the United Nations meeting in Vienna on illegal drugs.
In the video, Robredo scored the war on drugs and the alleged “palit-ulo” practice of cops to arrest members of a drug suspect’s direct family should he refuse to surrender. The Tagalog phrase palit-ulo roughly translates to “head swap.”
“I am studying it. If I find enough evidence to prosecute here, we have to see if it can stand trial before the Senate,” Alvarez said, adding that “a high-ranking government official brazenly maligned our
country before the international community.”
Even as Duterte said he had no hand in the plan to impeach Robredo, Solicitor General Jose Calida twitted that “my office will gladly lend its services to such endeavor.”
He added that Robredo would “reap the people’s wrath” for her act, which he described as “treasonous act.”
“VP Robredo debased her office and herself by betraying the trust of our people. The carping VP has joined the ranks of the destabilizers,” Calida added. SFM