LP to Pimentel: Don’t focus on Leni’s impeachment

Liberal Party president Sen. Francis Pangillinan. RICHARD A. REYES / Philippine Daily Inquirer

Liberal Party senators (LP) on Monday assailed Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III for saying there is a big chance an impeachment move against Vice President Leni Robredo would prosper in the House of Representative, which is dominated by administration allies.

There are five LP senators in the Senate — four are in the minority group while one, Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, is with the majority bloc. The four in the minority are Senators Francis Pangilinan, president of LP, Minority Leader Franklin Drilon, Senators Bam Aquino and Leila de Lima.

“We urge Senate President Koko Pimentel to focus on the numbers that matter: the thousands of unresolved murders, the rising prices of basic goods, and the 13-million hectare undersea region rich in minerals and biodiversity of Benham Rise,” said the LP senators in joint statement sent by Pangilinan’s office.

“These are the numbers that we should all be focusing on, not the 100 votes of congressmen on the impeachment case threatened by House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Solicitor General Jose Calida on Vice President Robredo,” they said.

Pimentel, in an interview over the weekend, indicated that an impeachment complaint against Robredo could easily get the support of 100 congressmen if such a move would be initiated by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who he said has more than 200 “followers” in the House.

Alvarez earlier said he would study filing an impeachment complaint against Robredo for betrayal of public trust after the latter sent a video message to the United Nations criticizing the administration’s war on drugs.

READ: Alvarez eyes impeachment rap vs Robredo this time

But the LP senators said the Vice President’s video message to the UN was within her prerogative as an elective official and citizen of the country.

“It also showed the world that the Philippines enjoys democracy where dissent is respected,” they said.

They also lamented that politics has already dominated the national discourse, instead of focusing on the life and death issues confronting the everyday life of the Filipino people.

“Let us, the country’s elected national leaders, all return the focus on what the people sent us to the Senate to do: to improve their and their children’s lives,” the LP senators added. CBB/rga