LAWMAKERS who are behind a reported plan to file a fourth impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte are trying to win the support of at least 100 of their colleagues to ensure that the complaint will be automatically sent to the Senate for trial, House Secretary General Velasco said yesterday.
Velasco said a group of 12 congressmen from both the majority and the minority blocs have told him they are trying to meet the constitutional requirement of one-third signatories of all 310 House members, or 103 signatories.
This will shorten the impeachment process because the endorsements of 103 lawmakers will automatically constitute the Articles of Impeachment against the Vice President.
“So, the plan is really to come up with another complaint, because the whole procedure will take some time, so they are thinking about the so-called fast-tracked process whereby one-third of the House members (will endorse the complaint),” Velasco told reporters.
Velasco had to delay the referral to the Office of the Speaker of the three impeachment complaints filed last month against Duterte to give more time to the complainants of the fourth complaint. Last week, he said a group of administration congressmen have told him they were considering either endorsing one of the three impeachment complaints or filing another complaint. The first three were filed by various cause-oriented groups.
Yesterday, Velasco said he would wait for the fourth complaint only until Thursday next week because he has to refer the first three to the Office of Speaker.
“So, my hands are tied. I’ll have to give them some more time,” he said. “I think next week will be a fair time for them to decide. Then I may be forced to transmit whatever complaints that I have received to the Speaker by next week.”
The Makabayan bloc at the House has launched its own campaign to gather the number of signatures required by the Constitution to automatically send the impeachment complaints to the Senate for trial.
LONG ROUTE
Without meeting the constitutional requirement on the number of signatories, the complaints against the Vice President will have to be referred to the House Committee on Justice, which will then vote to determine if the complaint is sufficient in form and substance.
Once approved by the plenary, the Vice President is considered impeached and only then can the complaint will be brought to the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, for trial.
“So, this is what other House members are thinking of. Of course, the other House members are also thinking of endorsing one of the three complaints. So, that’s the situation now,” said Velasco.
Velasco last week said House members could be hesitant to sign the impeachment complaints because of lack of material time to tackle and vote on the complaint as only 15 session days remain before the 19th Congress adjourns sine die in June.
He said some lawmakers may also be hesitating to sign the complaint because “it could affect their reelection efforts,” afraid that they will lose a lot of votes from Mindanao, the Vice President’s bailiwick.
Mandaluyong City Rep. Neptali Gonzales II has said complainants will have to wait for another year before they can file another complaint against the Vice President in case the 19th Congress fails to finish the impeachment process. This is because the Constitution provides that only one impeachment complaint can be initiated against an impeachable official within a year.
The official campaign period for the midterm polls will begin on February 7.
Gonzales has also cited the Supreme Court’s ruling that an impeachment complaint is deemed initiated once the House plenary refers the complaint or consolidated complaints to the Committee on Justice.
2028
The embattled Duterte, during a trip to Japan over the weekend, said she was seriously considering seeking the presidency in 2028, saying “what’s happening to the country now can no longer continue.”
All the three impeachment complaints are anchored on the Vice President’s alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of confidential funds in both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), which she used to head as concurrent education secretary.
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 was filed just two days later by 72 individuals led by Bayan, which cited only one ground — betrayal of public trust while 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 a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds disbursed by the OVP and the DepEd.
The latest complaint, which was endorsed by Reps. Gabriel Bordado Jr. of Camarines Sur and Lex Colada (PL, AAMBIS-OWA), who are both members of the House minority bloc, accused the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust.
