MANILA — The first impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte was filed by civil society organizations before the House of Representatives’ Office of the Secretary General yesterday afternoon.
The 50-page impeachment complaint crafted by religious leaders, sectoral representatives, and families of drug war victims was endorsed by Akbayan party-list’s Rep. Percival Cendaña before 3 p.m.
“Today, I formally endorse the first-ever and historic impeachment complaint filed by our citizens against Vice President Sara Duterte,” Cendaña said in a statement handed out to reporters before the filing.
Former senator Leila de Lima, who accompanied the civil society representatives, said that there are 17 complainants:
* former presidential peace adviser Ging Deles
* Catholic priest Flavie Villanueva
* former Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano
* Urban poor group representative Alice Murphy
* Professor Francis Joseph Dee
* Eugene Louie Gonzales
* Catholic priest Robert Reyes
* Dr. Sylvia Estrada-Claudio
* Leah Lopez Navarro
* Rowena Amon
* Randy Francisco delos Santos (uncle of Kian delos Santos)
* Filomena Cinco
* Teddy Lopez
* Sr. Susan Santos Esmile SFIC
* Sr. Mary Grace de Guzman
* Ma. Yvonne Christina Jereza
“Ang grounds po ng impeachment, bale lima po. (There are five grounds for impeachment), it was actually condensed into four grounds as indicated in the articles of impeachment, pero lima po sila (but its five). So out of the six grounds for impeachment laid down in the Constitution, lima po ‘yong grounds (there are five grounds),” de Lima explained.
“Culpable violation of the constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes. So ang wala lang na ground for impeachment is treason, so majority of the grounds are present. And there are a total of 24 articles of impeachment as discussed,” she added.
Aside from de Lima, former Quezon City lawmaker Jose Christopher Belmonte and other members of the Magdalo group accompanied the complainants.
Secretary General Reginald Velasco was only able to formally accept the impeachment complaint by 4:30 p.m., as he attended an official meeting when Cendaña, de Lima, and the others arrived.
“At 4.30 p.m. today, the Office of the Secretary General received an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte filed by civil society groups. The House of Representatives is constitutionally-mandated to act on any impeachment complaint filed in accordance with the 1987 Philippine Constitution,” Velasco said.
“Pursuant to the constitution a verified complaint for impeachment may be filed by any member of the House of Representatives or by any citizen upon a resolution of endorsement by any member thereof,” he added.
Duterte has been the subject of impeachment talks, ever since the House committee on good government and public accountability discovered different issues at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) — two offices under her.
Last November 25, it was revealed at the panel’s hearings that the special disbursing officers of OVP and DepEd left the disbursement of CFs to security officers — a move that 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez believes can be tantamount to technical malversation.
Prior to this, the panel discovered possible irregularities in the acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for OVP and DepEd’s confidential fund (CF) expenses.
For the OVP, one of the ARs bore the name Mary Grace Piattos — which Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop said is a name similar to a restaurant and a potato chip brand.
Then, lawmakers also found out that there was an instance where a certain Kokoy Villamin received CFs from OVP and DepEd, but used different signatures.
Calls for Duterte’s impeachment mounted after the said that she has contracted an assassin to kill President Ferdinand “Bongbong” R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, if she gets assassinated.
Duterte’s outburst came after she visited Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, her chief-of-staff who was detained at the House premises.
After this visit, Duterte locked herself inside the office of her brother, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte.
Due to the security problems that came with Duterte staying inside the Batasang Pambansa, the House committee on good government and public accountability decided to transfer Lopez to the Correctional Institute for Women.
After this, Duterte held a press briefing where made the death threat. (Gabriel Pabico Lalu © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
