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BY ADRIAN STEWART CO
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Thusday, June 1, 2017
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MANILA – Rep. Gary Alejano (Magdalo party-list) plans to bring his impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The House of Representatives formally dismissed on Tuesday evening the impeachment complaint Alejano filed against Duterte.
“Saan tayo pupunta? Wala tayong pupuntahan,” Alejano, a native of Negros Occidental, said on Wednesday. “Hahanapan natin ng paraan para makahanap tayo ng hustisya.”
A total of 217 representatives voted to adopt House Resolution No. 1015 stating the complaint was “sufficient in form but insufficient in substance.” Four congressmen dissented.
“Pilit kong maniwala sa proseso ng Kongreso, pero nakita natin ang nangyari,” said Alejano.
Duterte will now have a year of immunity from impeachment suits. Under the 1987 Constitution, no proceedings should be initiated against an impeachable officer more than once within a year.
“With what happened right now, pinag-iisipan ko po, nakikipag-discuss sa grupo na sasama na kaming magreklamo sa International Criminal Court,” Alejano said.
The Philippines is a state party in the ICC, the court of last resort.
A petitioner may file a case at the international tribunal only after exhausting all legal remedies in their home country.
Duterte must be impeached for culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes, Alejano said in his complaint before the House’s Office of the Secretary General.
Alejano cited the following, among others, as Duterte’s alleged violations: extrajudicial killings in the administration’s war on drugs, the killings by the so-called Davao Death Squad, the 11,000 “ghost” employees in Davao City, and the President’s unexplained wealth.
He also filed a supplemental impeachment complaint against the President for allegedly allowing Chinese encroachment in Philippine territorial waters at the Panatag Shoal and the Benham Rise./PN
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