Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Makes Fresh Claims Before Impeachment by House
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President claimed that many congressmen allegedly received money for attaching their signature to her impeachment.
Last February 5, Vice Pres. Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives after more than two-thirds of the lawmakers in the lower chamber approved her ouster. Prior to it, the House called Vice Pres. Duterte multiple times to explain the budget use of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education when she was the DepEd secretary.
The articles of impeachment against Duterte was transmitted to the Senate. However, Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero previously turned down several calls to immediately start the impeachment trial citing that the session then was on recess.
In the first week of June, Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero took his oath as the presiding officer of the impeachment court in the trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. It was followed by the senators taking their oath as judges. However, shortly after the oath-taking, the senator judges decided on a motion to return the articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives to meet the following:
- The House of Representatives certified to the non-violation of Article XI, Section 3, paragraph 5 of the Constitution, which provides that “No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within one year; include the circumstances on the filing of the first three impeachment complaints”; and
- The House of Representatives of the 20th Congress communicated to the Senate that it was willing and ready to pursue the impeachment complaint against the Vice President.
Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero clarified that the return of Duterte’s impeachment to the House is not a dismissal of the case. According to him, there was no intention to dismiss the case but it is an opportunity for the House prosecution panel to answer questions before the Senate impeachment court decides.
Recently, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte made fresh allegations against the articles of impeachment crafted by the House prosecution panel. Based on a report on PhilStar, the Vice President claimed that there were allegedly congressmen signed the articles of impeachment first before reading the document.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte further claimed that many congressmen allegedly got money for their signatures in her impeachment document. There were at least 215 lawmakers in the House who supported the ouster of the Vice President.
“We all know that, first, they (congressmen) did not read the Articles of Impeachment. Second, many of them received a budget or money in exchange for their signature,” she said.
Based on the report, Vice Pres. Duterte claimed that many congressmen allegedly admitted that they were promised something in exchange for their signatures in her impeachment case. She slammed the calls of some business groups for the immediate start of the trial against her.
“In fact, many already admitted that they were promised something in exchange for their signature… so if we are to talk about accountability by business groups, they should also question how the Articles of Impeachment was passed,” the Vice President said.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez found the remand of Duterte’s impeachment to the House as “deeply concerning”. The House prosecution panel maintained that they followed the rules in the impeachment of the Vice President.