House urged: Act on VP Sara impeachment

MANILA, Philippines — One of the complainants in the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte has called on the House of Representatives to uphold its constitutional responsibility and take immediate action on the matter.

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News yesterday, Kiko Aquino Dee, a grandson of former president Corazon Aquino, noted that the House of Representatives appears to be ignoring the three impeachment complaints against Duterte.

“Congress is mandated to fulfill its… constitutionally mandated role to file the impeachment complaint, to forward the impeachment complaint on the part of the House and to try the impeachment complaint on the part of the Senate,” Dee said in Filipino.

“It appears that it is not important for the House of Representatives to hold accountable an official who issued grave threats,” he added, referring to Duterte’s earlier admission that she had contracted someone to kill President Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were killed.

“It seems that the threat to kill our elected leaders is not important,” said Dee.

The Constitution mandates that a verified impeachment complaint must be included in the order of business of the House of Representatives within 10 session days.

The first impeachment complaint against Duterte was filed on Dec. 2, followed by the second on Dec. 4 and the third on Dec. 19.

Congress went on a break last Dec. 21 and resumed on Jan. 13, but the Office of the Secretary General has yet to forward the complaint to the Office of the House Speaker.

Regardless of whether they have enough votes or not, Dee said it is imperative for lawmakers to tackle the complaints.

“Please, for once, do the right thing. Show us that you do not think only of your ego, self-interest and pockets,” he said.

“It is their job to check and balance the executive,” he said, adding that there is a significant part of the population that supports their move.

A recent Social Weather Stations survey showed that 41 percent of respondents support the impeachment of the Vice President, 35 percent said they disagree while 19 percent were undecided.

Duterte is currently facing three impeachment complaints, accusing her of graft, bribery, betrayal of public trust, obstruction of justice, violations of the Constitution and other high crimes – primarily connected with her alleged misuse of the P612.5-million confidential funds and disturbing threats against key figures, including President Marcos.