VP SARA IMPEACHED; COMPLAINT SENT TO SENATE

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Number of endorsers way over required 1/3 of House members

SARA Duterte made history yesterday after she became the first vice president of to be impeached by the House of Representatives.

She is being accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

Duterte was officially impeached after 215 lawmakers, including presidential son Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, 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.

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The House archived the first three impeachment complaints filed in December by various groups, and endorsed by some House members, to give way to the majority’s complaint.

The allegations in the majority’s complaint revolves around various violations of the 1987 Constitution, the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, and other laws.

Among the specific impeachable acts cited is the alleged conspiracy to assassinate the President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez, which was anchored on Duterte’s statement that she has ordered a hitman to kill the three in case she gets killed.

The House sent the Articles of the Impeachment to the Senate for trial despite President Marcos Jr.’s stand against impeaching Duterte whose political alliance with the Chief Executive has crumbled.

Senate secretary Renato Bantug officially received the Articles of Impeachment from House secretary general Reginald Velasco at around 5:50 p.m.

It is was not clear when the Senate will start hearing the complaint as the two chambers of Congress adjourned session yesterday for the campaign period for the May midterm elections.

A two-thirds vote by the Senate is required to convict and remove Duterte from office. If convicted, she will also be perpetually prohibited from holding any public office.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, an ally of the Vice President, said considering Congress’ break, “most likely, the earliest that we will tackle that in the plenary is on, after the elections.”

He said he does not know if they are allowed to hold sessions while Congress is on break because the rules of impeachment have yet to be crafted.

“How can we tackle that in the plenary when we no longer have sessions starting tomorrow (Thursday),” he said in Filipino.

THREAT TO STABILITY

The majority’s complaint on the alleged conspiracy to assassinate the President Marcos, the First Lady, and the Speaker cited Duterte’s press statements about “imagining” that she was decapitating the President’s head, which also fueled concerns on national security. Lawmakers said allowing Duterte to remain in office poses a direct threat to national stability, making impeachment necessary.

The second ground is the alleged malversation of a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds during Duterte’s tenure as Vice President and as Education secretary.

Duterte is accused of questionable disbursements under the Office of the Vice President (OVP) worth P254.8 million and linked to 1,322 fictitious beneficiaries who had no birth records and another P43.2 million in alleged ghost transactions involving 405 fake names under the confidential fund of the Department of Education (DepEd).

It pointed out that during the House hearings, special disbursing officers testified that they were ordered by the Vice President to hand over confidential funds to unauthorized individuals.

The complaint said these blatant financial irregularities constitute technical malversation, graft, and corruption, forming a strong case for impeachment.

CORRUPTION

Third is the alleged bribery and corruption in DepEd, where Duterte approved monetary gifts and alleged bribes to high-ranking officials handling procurement and bidding processes.

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Among those who gave their testimonies about the incidents are former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado (procurement head), Bids and Awards Committee Member Resty Osias, DepEd chief accountant Rhunna Catalan, and special disbursing officer Edward Fajarda.

There were also allegations of attempts to rig the DepEd Computerization Program in favor of preferred contractors, an act violating Republic Act No. 3019 (Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act).

Fourth is the unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets since Duterte’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) revealed a quadrupling of her net worth from 2007 to 2017, without a legitimate increase in income; at least P2 billion in suspicious transactions linked to joint bank accounts shared with former President Rodrigo Duterte; and a total unexplained income of P111.6 million from 2006 to 2015.

Failure to fully disclose assets and sources of income is a culpable violation of Section 17, Article XI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution, further justifying her impeachment.

KILLINGS

Fifth is the Vice President’s past involvement in extrajudicial killings as alleged by former police officer SPO4 Arturo Lascañas who said Duterte personally ordered assassinations under “Operation Tokhang” when she was mayor of Davao City in 2012.  Lawmakers believe this falls under crimes against humanity and abuse of authority.

The last ground for impeachment is the Vice President’s alleged involvement in destabilization, insurrection, sedition and public disorder based on the following acts: boycotting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) while calling herself “designated survivor”; leading rallies calling for the President’s resignation; publicly defending fugitive pastor Apollo Quiboloy; obstructing congressional investigations by ordering subordinates not to comply with subpoenas; and threatening bodily harm against the President, First Lady, and Speaker Romualdez.

All the three impeachment complaints filed in December, which were archived to give way to the majority’s complaint, were anchored on her alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of confidential funds in both the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, 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 (PL, Akbayan). It accused 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 filed just two days later by 72 individuals led by Bayan members and endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, cited only one ground — betrayal of public trust, while the third complaint, filed on December 19 by religious groups and lawyers, also accused Duterte of willfully misusing public funds by fabricating recipients of a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds disbursed by the OVP and the DepEd.

PROSECUTORS

Appointed by the plenary as members of the House prosecution panel are Reps. Gerville Luistro (Batangas), Romeo Acop (Antipolo City), Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (PL, 1-Rider), Joel Chua (Manila), Raul Angelo Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol), Loreto Acharon (General Santos City), Arnan Panaligan (Oriental Mindoro), Ysabel Maria Zamora (San Juan City), Lorenz Defensor (Iloilo), Jonathan Keith Flores (Bukidnon), and minority leader Marcelino Libanan.

At the House yesterday, majority leader Manuel Jose Dalipe moved to immediately endorse the complaint to the Senate after getting the 215 endorsers, pursuant to the Article II of the Constitution (Accountability of Public Officers) and the House’s own Rules of Procedure on impeachment proceedings,

“There is a motion to direct the Secretary General to immediately endorse to the Senate the impeachment complaint having been filed by more than one-third of the membership of the House or a total of members. Is there any objection? The chair hears none. The motion is approved. The Secretary General is so directed,” Romualdez said.

While Marcos Jr. has said that engaging in such a lengthy political exercise would only tie down Congress as it would not be able to focus on legislation and other more important national issues, the Chief Executive has not categorically asked his House allies led by his cousin, Speaker Martin Romualdez, not to file an impeachment complaint against the Vice President.

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