Marcos ‘not blocking’ impeachment efforts vs VP Sara, says Palace
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang denied that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was meddling in efforts by the House of Representatives to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, saying that it was solely the prerogative of the lower chamber.
Progressive lawmakers from the House have criticized Marcos for possibly hindering efforts to impeach Duterte.
The president has gone on record saying he believed Congress had better things to do and that the impeachment process would be too time-consuming.
“You know, that under the Constitution, the impeachment must emanate from the lower House, okay? Now, if the president has made a statement at all about that process, it is only an opinion that he stated because he probably—the thinking of the president is that might be distracting us from our agenda or our move forward,” Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said in a media interview on Friday, January 24, in Pasay City.
Bersamin maintained that they could not make the House do anything.
“He is not blocking he cannot do that eh. Because it is the discretion of the collective of the lower House. If they decide to initiate, there is no way of preventing that,” the executive secretary said.
Bersamin also said it was important to remember that Marcos was asked if he was in favor of impeachment, but he could not say whether or not he would support it moving forward.
However, lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc cited a leaked message showing the president asking lawmakers not to proceed with impeachment following the death threats Duterte made against him.
He cited the case of former president Joseph Estrada's impeachment in 2001, when then-House Speaker Manny Villar was the one who endorsed the impeachment complaint.
“We have autonomy, independence and so on, we cannot dictate on the other branches of government,” he said.
Duterte currently faces three impeachment complaints in the House, stemming from the alleged mishandling of her office's confidential funds.
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