Impeach complaint rock-solid, says prosecutor

MANILA, Philippines — The impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte is rock-solid and nothing in it is unconstitutional, flawed or violative of due process, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said yesterday.

The Batangas lawmaker was debunking claims raised by supporters of the Vice President in their petition before the Supreme Court to stop her Senate impeachment trial.

“First, they stated we did not follow the rules on verification. It is clear in our Constitution that Congress shall promulgate its own rules on impeachment. And to be precise, we followed word for word the rules of the 19th Congress of the Philippines as far as the verification is concerned,” Luistro, a member of the 11-member House prosecution panel, said in a television interview.

She stressed the complaint was properly signed and affirmed by 215 members of the House of Representatives.

“Second, they also made mention that the verification was only inserted days after the filing in the Senate. That is not true. As a matter of fact, during the caucus, which is the same time when the 215 members of the House affixed their signatures, the verification page was already incorporated in the complaint,” she said.

“It was on the same day, it was on the same occasion, where the congressmen made an oath in connection with the verification needed for the impeachment complaint,” Luistro maintained.

“Let us all be reminded, most of the grounds are subject matter of investigation in the quad committee and even in the committee on good government,” she added.

“I wish to share that as early as last year, when the three impeachment complaints were filed, there had been an individual evaluation from our congressmen and it was because of the intercession of the political parties that made us team up with this fourth impeachment complaint to be able to catch up with the limited number of sessions that were remaining, saving the impeachment process from the alleged one-year prescription period,” she added.

For San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora, the impeachment complaints have laid down enough evidence to justify the perpetual disqualification of Duterte from holding any public office.

“We, in Congress, filed the complaint for impeachment because we have seen evidence,” Zamora said at a forum organized by the University of the Philippines College of Law. Zamora is also part of the House prosecution team.

“So without going to the merits or to the evidence, it is our duty as representatives, as members of Congress, to file this impeachment complaint because we saw grounds to support the articles that we have,” she said.

She also stressed the importance of presenting evidence to the public during an impeachment trial, as she scoffed at attempts by some quarters to belittle the exercise.

“We need to reveal to the public the pieces of evidence that we have. It is not a waste of time, it is not a waste of resources,” Zamora said.

Desperation

In a statement, Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon said Duterte was showing signs of fear and desperation in her move to turn to the Supreme Court for help to stop her impeachment trial.

“This is a clear sign that the Vice President is afraid to face the evidence against her. If she truly believes she is innocent, why is she running to the Supreme Court instead of preparing her defense before the Senate? This move reeks of desperation,” Bongalon said.

He said Duterte was the first impeached official in the country to seek SC help to stop her impeachment trial.

In 2012, the late chief justice Renato Corona was convicted in a Senate impeachment trial and so was chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno facing impeachment but did not turn to the courts for reprieve, instead being removed through quo warranto petition. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez opted to resign in 2011 before she could face an impeachment court.

“These officials, despite the charges against them, acknowledged the constitutional role of Congress in impeachment. They did not try to undermine the process by running to the Supreme Court. What VP Duterte is doing now is completely unprecedented,” Bongalon said.

Bongalon said impeachment is not a judicial process and that even the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that it is beyond judicial review.

Duterte’s questioning her impeachment before the SC has also drawn flak from former Bayan Muna congressman Neri Colmenares.

“Vice President Sara Duterte’s filing of a petition to stop the impeachment process is nothing more than an attempt to delay the impeachment proceedings. She previously declared that she ‘welcomes’ the impeachment case filed against her so she ‘can finally answer’ the accusations against her. But she changes tune,” Colmenares, counsel in the second impeachment complainant, said in a statement.

Dip in trust ratings

Just after her impeachment by the House of Representatives, Duterte’s satisfaction and trust ratings dipped slightly, according to results of a “mobile-based” survey by Tangere released yesterday.

Based on the survey of 2,400 respondents from Feb. 16 to 17, the satisfaction rating of the Vice President went down from 40.6 percent to 40.0 percent, while her trust rating dropped to 46.5 percent from 47.0 percent.

“Both VP Duterte’s satisfaction and trust rating suffered a notable decrease for the month of February following her impeachment by the House,” read a Tangere report on the survey.

Dissatisfaction and distrust for the Vice President – at 39.5 percent and 30.2 percent respectively –  were found to be “highest” among “top government officials of the country,” the pollster noted.

“Respondents belonging to both upper income and middle-income classes were the primary drivers of the increase in her dissatisfaction and distrust ratings,” Tangere stated.

The survey had a plus or minus 1.96 percent margin of error (95 percent confidence level) using a quota-based sampling, or a Stratified Random Sampling method.

The proportion was spread throughout the Philippines with 12 percent from the National Capital Region, 23 percent from Northern Luzon, 22 percent from Southern Luzon, 20 percent from Visayas, and 23 percent from Mindanao.

‘Little change’

Meanwhile, satisfaction and trust ratings of President Marcos only saw a “little change” for the same period this month, which the pollster said was “driven by respondents from Northern Luzon and Central Luzon,” the Chief Executive’s bailiwicks.

“The President’s distrust and dissatisfaction were driven by respondents from Mindanao and the Bicol Region, and from respondents aged 51 years old and above,” Tangere reported.

Satisfaction and trust ratings for Speaker Martin Romualdez also saw a “notable increase” – 49.0 percent to 49.4 percent satisfaction and 59.0 percent to 59.5 percent in trust ratings.

“The increase in satisfaction and trust are driven by respondents from Northern Luzon, Central Luzon and Eastern Visayas,” the pollster reported.

“There is a higher level of distrust and dissatisfaction among respondents from Mindanao, and for respondents aged 51 years old and above,” it added. “Increased public awareness due to the impeachment of VP Duterte boosted the ratings of Speaker Romualdez.”

Satisfaction and trust ratings of Senate President Francis Escudero dipped “for the second straight month.”

“Dissatisfaction and distrust for the Senate President also saw a notable increase,” Tangere said, however pointing out he “continues to be the highest rated top government official in the country.” – Mark Ernest Villeza