Asia-Pacific Newsweek
December 3, 2024
Manila – Civil society organizations filed the first impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte with the Office of the Secretary of the House of Representatives on Monday afternoon.
The 50-page impeachment complaint drafted by religious leaders, departmental representatives and family members of drug war victims was endorsed by Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña just before 3:00 p.m.
“Today, I formally support the historic impeachment complaint filed by the citizens of our country against Vice President Sara Duterte,” Sendagna said in a statement to reporters before filing.
Former Senator Leila de Lima, who accompanied representatives of civil society, stated that there were 17 complainants:
- former presidential peace adviser kim deles
- Catholic priest Flavio Villanueva
- Former Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano
- Alice Murphy, representative of the urban poor
- Professor Francis Joseph Dee
- Eugene Louis Gonzalez
- Catholic priest Robert Reyes
- Dr. Silvia Estrada-Claudio
- Leah Lopez Navarro
- rowena amon
- Randy Francisco de los Santos (uncle of Kian de los Santos)
- Philomena Cinco
- Teddy Lopez
- Mr. Susan Santos Esmil SFIC
- Ms. Mary Grace de Guzman
- mom. Yvonne Christina Hreza
“The grounds for impeachment, pero lima po. (There are five grounds for impeachment) are actually the four grounds stated in the articles of impeachment, pero lima po sila (but five). Therefore, within the six stipulated in the Constitution Of the three grounds for impeachment, Lima Boyon (there are five grounds),” De Lima explained.
“Violation of the Constitution, corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust and other serious crimes. So the reason for impeachment is treason, so most of the reasons are established. There are 24 articles of impeachment discussed.
In addition to De Lima, the complainant was accompanied by former Quezon City Councilman Jose Christopher Belmonte and other members of the Magdalo organization.
Secretary-General Reginald Velasco did not formally accept the impeachment complaint until 4:30 p.m., when he was attending a formal meeting with Cendaña, de Lima ) and others also arrived.
“Today at 4:30 p.m., the Office of the Secretary-General received a complaint of impeachment filed by civil society against Vice President Sara Duterte. The Constitution authorizes the House of Representatives to act on any complaint of impeachment filed under the 1987 Philippine Constitution,” Velasco said.
“Under the Constitution, any member of the House of Representatives or any citizen may file a verified complaint of impeachment upon a resolution endorsed by any member,” he added.
Duterte has been the subject of impeachment talks since the House Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability found separate issues in the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) – two offices under her umbrella.
On November 25 last year, it was revealed during a panel hearing that the OVP and the Department of Education’s special spending officer left the spending of the CF to security officials — one-horseman party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez ( Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez said the move amounted to technical fraud.
This comes after the panel found possible irregularities in the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) for OVP and DepEd Confidential Fund (CF) fees.
For the OVP, the name of one of the ARs is Mary Grace Piattos — a name that Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop said is similar to a restaurant and a brand of potato chips.
Then, the legislator also found that there was an instance where a certain Kokoy Villamin received a CF from both the OVP and the DepEd but with different signatures.
Duterte has allegedly hired assassins to kill President Ferdinand “Bongbang” R. Marcos, First Lady Lisa Araneta Marcos and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin if Duterte is assassinated. Romualz, as a result, calls for Duterte’s impeachment are growing.
The incident broke out after Duterte visited his chief of staff, Undersecretary of State Zuleika Lopez, who was detained in the House of Representatives.
After the visit, Duterte locked herself in the office of her brother, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paul Duterte.
The House Committee on Good Governance and Public Accountability decided to transfer Lopez to the Women's Correctional Facility due to security concerns posed by Duterte's stay inside the Batasang Pambansa.
Afterwards, Duterte held a press conference and issued death threats.
