Palace welcomes LP solons’ decision not to support Duterte impeachment
Malacañang yesterday said it welcomes the decision of some lawmakers from the Liberal Party not to support the impeachment complaint filed against President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a statement, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella reiterated that Duterte is the "duly elected leader" of the country, with 16 million Filipinos voting for him in the last elections.
He said that any act to remove the president from office "is an attempt to subvert the people's will" and an impeachment process "would be counterproductive" as the country sees continuous economic growth.
"We therefore have to seize our economic momentum and not be derailed by destructive politics," he said.
The statement came in response to the decision of about half of the LP contingent in the House of Representatives not to support impeachment efforts against both Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo, the party's interim chair.
Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo said 15 LP members who are allied with the House supermajority met with Robredo last Thursday, where the matter was discussed.
During the meeting, the LP lawmakers "categorically took a position" against the impeachment of the top elected leaders, believing that the House taking up such complaints "will only be divisive as well as polarizing."
The LP solons also reiterated their support for Robredo.
There are a total of 32 LP members in the House of Representatives, including 27 members with the supermajority coalition led by Duterte allies, and five others with the independent minority. The contingent is set to meet again on or before Congress resumes session on May 2.
ABS partylist Representative Eugene de Vera, a deputy minority leader at the House, called LP's move "a safe political strategy" to keep Robredo in office.
He noted that the ruling PDP-Laban "can easily muster" the votes — from one-third or at least 98 solons — to impeach the vice president, while LP will find the task of impeaching Duterte "next to impossible."
"With LP adopting this stance, it appears to waive (sic) the white flag," he said.
The impeachment complaint against the president was filed by Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano in March for culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
Among instances he cited in his complaint were killings carried out by the infamous Davao Death Squad) when Duterte was still Davao City mayor, and the spate of extrajudicial killings since he became president.
Alejano's filing came a day after the release of Robredo's video message for a side session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting, where she raised irregularities in the administration's anti-drug campaign, notably the socalled "palitulo" scheme.
In seeming response, two former senatorial aspirants, known supporters of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, submitted an impeachment rap against Robredo. Another group of lawyers and vocal critics of the vice president on social media said they are also building up a separate complaint.