Oliver Lozano
The lawyer who filed the impeachment rap against Vice President Leni Robredo said that there are 100 representatives ready to endorse the complaint.
Lozano, together with Melchor Chavez, filed a six-page complaint against Robredo on Monday anchored on the grounds of culpable violation of the Constitution, acts of injustice, and betrayal of public trust arising from the Vice President’s video message to the United Nations Commission on Narcotics criticizing the Duterte administration’s bloody war on drugs.
READ: Robredo called ‘termite of government’ in impeach complaint
The complaint landed on House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez’s table instead of House Secretary General Cesar Pareja’s.
“Technically dapat i-file sa Secretary General. Ngunit walang session. So idinaan natin kay Speaker na merong substantial compliance na dahil mas mataas si Speaker kay Secretary,” Lozano said during the Broadcaster’s Forum at a hotel in Quezon City.
(Technically, we should have filed it before the Secretary General. But there was no session. So we just submitted it to the Speaker, knowing that there was the substantial compliance because the Speaker is superior to the Secretary.)
“At ang kaigihan pa nito, dahil si Speaker ay unang nag-announce na mag-impeach, sigurado na ieendorse niya ito. Kaya ang advantage nang idaan ko sa kanya, i-eendorse niya at inannounce pa meron nang nakahandaang 100 representative(s) na nakahandang mag-endorse na with due respect may sufficient reasons na dapat maimpeach si Leni as early as possible dahil siya ang tinik ng administrasyon ng pagbabago,” he added.
(The Speaker is sure to endorse this because he has already announced mulling an impeachment complaint. So the advantage of me submitting this directly to him is he will endorse this, and there are already 100 representatives willing to endorse this. With due respect, there are sufficient reasons for Leni to be impeached because she is the thorn to this administration that wants to endorse change.)
The vote of at least one-third of the members of the House of Representatives is needed for the complaint to move to the Senate. The endorsement of 100 representatives, if Lozano’s claim is to be believed, will be more than enough for the impeachment rap to reach the upper chamber.
Lozano, a known Marcos loyalist and serial filer of impeachment complaints even during the time of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, said that he sees Robredo already impeached by May, but added that he sent a request to Speaker Alvarez not to wait for the month to come.
“Mag-special session tapos impeach kaagad, dahil baka mauna itong impeachment ni Alejano na by the way malamang ay hindi magtagumpay (They can hold a special session and impeach her immediately because they risk being overtaken by the complaint of Alejano, which, by the way, I do not see succeeding),” Lozano said.
READ: 1st impeachment complaint filed vs Duterte for killings, graft
“This impeachment can be done in April kung mag-special session,” he added.
Lozano said that Alejano’s cohorts may even be eyeing an assassination attempt against Duterte
“Pinapagalit lang ng tao sa sunod-sunod people power, impeachment, coup de ‘tat, ganun. Sa assassination isang bala lang, at determinado na papatayin si Digong, ‘yun ang aking ano,” he said.
(They are making the people angry, hoping this would lead to a people power, impeachment or coup d’état. It would take just one bullet to assassinate Duterte, and they seem bent on it. That’s just my take.) IDL