‘House must hear impeachment complaint vs Duterte’

The House of Representatives must conduct full-blown hearings on the impeachment complaint against President Duterte, opposition Rep. Edcel Lagman said yesterday.

“The committee on justice cannot dismiss or sustain outright a duly filed and properly referred impeachment complaint without conducting a hearing as mandated by the Constitution,” he said.

“The hearing envisioned by the Constitution partakes of two phases: first, a preliminary hearing on the sufficiency of form and substance of the complaint; and second, a full-blown hearing to determine the absence or existence of probable cause to impeach the respondent, after finding that the complaint is sufficient in form and substance,” he added.

Lagman said the process requires that the impeachment petitioner, Rep. Gary Alejano of party-list group Magdalo, be given the opportunity to be heard and to present his arguments and evidence to support his complaint.

The House impeachment rules also allow Alejano to correct his petition if the committee on justice determines that it is not sufficient in form, Lagman added.

Lagman is one of the leaders of the seven-member group calling itself the genuine minority or opposition in the House, to which Alejano belongs.

The other minority bloc led by Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez supports the Duterte administration but claims to be the opposition.

Lagman made the statement in the wake of pronouncements from House leaders and members of the justice committee that they would kill the impeachment complaint against Duterte tomorrow.