REP. France Castro, a member of the militant Makabayan bloc at the House, yesterday said she has been receiving death threats and other forms of harassment for actively pushing for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Castro, however, said the threats she has been receiving through text messages and phone calls will not deter her from seeking accountability from the Vice President who is accused of misusing hundreds of millions of confidential funds in both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) which she headed until June last year when she resigned as education secretary.
“These cowardly acts of intimidation will not deter us from pursuing accountability. In the past, I chose to ignore similar threats, but now is the time to hold these perpetrators accountable for their actions against those who stand for truth and accountability,” she said.
Castro said the threats escalated after she called for a meeting today with complainants and endorsers of all the three impeachment complaints against Duterte to plan their next course of action, including pressing the House leadership to act on the complaints which remain pending in the Office of the House Secretary General.
Secretary General Reginald Velasco has yet to endorse to the Office of the Speaker the three complaints, saying another group of complainants are expected to file a fourth impeachment complaint.
The first three complaints were filed last month.
Castro said the threats also came after former President Rodrigo Duterte’s televised death threat against her in 2023.
The activist-lawmaker said one particularly “disturbing” threat, sent from mobile number 0955 584 3032, “contained explicit death threats and warnings about going to Davao City.”
Starting with an expletive, the text message in mixed Filipino and English called Castro a convict, said she would be jailed this year, and added it would be better for her to be in jail than in Davao City, the Dutertes’ turf, where she could be beheaded.
The message sender was apparently referring to Castro’s conviction for child abuse by a Tagum City court in Davao del Norte which convicted Castro, former Bayan Muna Rep. Ocampo, and the 11 other respondents for allegedly holding 14 minor students during their solidarity mission in Talaingod, Davao del Norte in November 2018.
Castro, who is appealing the court’s decision, was sentenced to four to six years in jail for violating the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and Discrimination Act (Republic Act 7610).
Duterte, during a budget hearing last August, asked why Castro, “a person convicted of child abuse, is still sitting in a seat (in Congress).”
Castro said she also received harassment calls from numbers 09603610219 and 09101234505.
“These childish threats and harassment will not intimidate me. They are only proving that we are on the right path in holding accountable those who have squandered public funds,” she said. “We cannot allow a culture of impunity where public servants are threatened for performing their constitutional duties.”
The Makabayan bloc has launched a campaign to gather the number of signatures required by the Constitution to automatically send the impeachment complaints to the Senate for trial. With 307 House members, the bloc will need at least 103 signatures to shorten the impeachment process by constituting the Articles of Impeachment and sending it to the Senate which will convene as an impeachment court.
Without the minimum 103 signatures, the complaints will have to be referred to the justice committee which will vote to determine if these are sufficient in form and substance.
Once approved by the plenary, the Vice President is considered impeached and only then can the complaint be brought to the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, for trial.
The first impeachment complaint was filed on December 2 by civil society and religious organizations led by Akbayan party-list and endorsed by Rep. Percival Cendaña. It accuses the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.
The second complaint, which was endorsed by Castro and the rest of the Makabayan bloc, was filed just two days later by 72 individuals led by Bayan members. It only cited one ground — betrayal of public trust.
The third complaint was filed on December 19 by religious groups and lawyers who also accused Duterte of willfully misusing public funds by fabricating the recipients of P612.5 million in confidential funds disbursed by the OVP and the DepEd. It was endorsed by Reps. Gabriel Bordado Jr. of Camarines Sur and Lex Colada (PL, AAMBIS-OWA), are both members of the House minority bloc.
