ALLEGATIONS of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) in the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte may already be enough to secure her conviction by the Senate, which will sit as an Impeachment Court, Manila Rep. Joel Chua said yesterday.
Chua, a member of the House prosecution panel, said Article 5 of the impeachment complaint, which accuses Duterte of high crimes, including murder and conspiracy to commit murder, is backed by strong testimonial evidence from a former Davao police officer.
This developed as Malacañang refuted Duterte’s statement that government has abandoned the Office of the Vice President.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Duterte merely wants to get public sympathy. She also said it was Duterte who may have abandoned the government, and not the other way around.
Duterte made the statement on Sunday in Hong Kong as she thanked Filipino workers for continuing to support her after she cut ties with the Marcos administration.
“… kayo lang (ang) sumusuporta sa OVP. Ang buong gobyerno ay iniwanan na po ang OVP (… you’re the only ones supporting the OVP, the whole government has abandoned the OVP),” she said at the event organized by the Kingdom of Jesus Christ led by Apollo Quiboloy who is facing criminal charges.
Congress has significantly slashed the OVP budget for 2025, giving it P733 million after Duterte refused to attend the House of Representatives’ plenary deliberations on the OVP’s P2.03-billion proposed budget last year.
Lawmakers have said the decision to significantly reduce the OVP’s 2025 budget reflects the government’s commitment to transparency and responsible fiscal management since many of the Vice President’s projects were a duplication of the programs of the Department of Social Welfare and Development.
Castro said Duterte and the OVP had been given every chance to explain and defend the budget sought by her office but the vice president skipped deliberations of the OVP’s 2025 budget.
Duterte, in the same event, Duterte joked she will be needing the OFWs to support in her candidacy in 2028 but did not say if it will be for the presidential race.
The Vice President also admitted she owed her supporters an apology for allegedly having been “scammed” by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr who was her running mate in the 2022 national elections.
She later told the crowd that Quiboloy, the detained KOJC founder, once told her that she should not blame herself for not running for president in 2022 and stepping aside for Marcos.
‘SOLID’
Chua, also chair of House committee on good government and public accountability, said Article 5 of the impeachment complaint is backed by “testimonial evidence” from former Davao police officer SPO4 Arturo Lascañas.
“So there is direct evidence to prove this,” Chua said in mixed Filipino and English during a press conference.
Fifth in the Articles of Impeachment is Duterte’s alleged involvement in EJKs through the Davao death squad (DDS) during her time as Davao City mayor.
The whistleblower said Duterte personally ordered assassinations under “Operation Tokhang” and that bodies of victims were secretly buried in mass graves at the Laud quarry.
Chua said the presence of such direct testimonial evidence strengthens the case against the vice president, as he expressed confidence that the case, alone, may be enough to convict the Vice President.
“That’s why if you ask how strong the case is, I can say it’s solid and strong,” he said.
Chua said the impeachment complaint was carefully crafted and only the strongest allegations backed by substantial evidence were included in the Articles of Impeachment.
He said the discovery of additional fictitious names such as “Pia Piatos-Lim,” “Renan Piatos” and “Xiaome Ocho” in the list of supposed beneficiaries of Duterte’s confidential funds has also strengthened the House case against the Vice President.
“This only proves that our evidence has become stronger. The question remains, if these are fictitious names. Where did the money go?” he said.
The Articles of Impeachment accuses Duterte of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and other high crimes. It was transmitted to the Senate also on February 5. Trial may start in July.
Duterte was officially impeached on February 5 after 215 House members endorsed the verified impeachment complaint filed by the majority bloc, exceeding by 113 signatories the constitutional requirement of one-third of all members of the House of Representatives, which currently has 306 members.
VOTE BUYING
George Garcia, chairman of the Commission on Elections (Comelec), said the poll body is verifying reports of that “candidates who went to Hong Kong asked the attendees to vote straight… They supposedly gave away money of HK$200.”
“We are coordinating with the Philippine Consulate in Hong Kong to secure more information on this matter,” he said.
“If someone wants to come out and say they were offered or given (money), it would be better as our investigation on this matter will be easier,” he added.
He refused to identify the political party and candidates involved. “We want to verify it first. We don’t want to propagate fake news and misinformation,” he said.
The event attended by Duterte was a campaign sortie of the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) for its senatorial candidates.
Garcia reminded all senatorial and party-list candidates to follow campaign rules. – With Jocelyn Montemayor and Gerard Naval
