Duterte impeachment officially dead

As it formally dismissed yesterday the impeachment complaint against President Duterte, the House Committee on Justice assured the Chief Executive that no other impeachment complaints will be filed against him.

The House panel, chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, unanimously approved the committee report and the resolution dismissing the impeachment complaint against the President.

“By unanimous vote, the committee report on resolution dismissing the verified complaint for impeachment and supplemental complaint affidavit filed by Rep. Gary Alejano against President Rodrigo Duterte, effectively putting a one year ban on any and all impeachment complaints that may be filed against the President, is hereby approved unanimously,” Umali said during the hearing that lasted only 20 minutes.

All the 17 panel members voted for the dismissal of the complaint against the President.

Umali explained that the impeachment proceedings were deemed initiated on May 9, 2017 and therefore, the one-year bar against the filing of impeachment complaints against President Duterte took effect on May 9, 2017.

According to the 15-page panel report, the Umali panel finds, resolves and concludes that the impeachment complaint, filed by MAGDALO partylist Rep. Gary Alejano,” albeit defective, is sufficient in form” and ”is not sufficient in substance.”