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[av_heading heading=’IMPEACH RAP FILED VS RODY | Iloilo allies: Complaint doomed to fail’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY PRINCE GOLEZ, Manila Reporter
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Friday, March 17, 2017
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MANILA – Magdalo party-list’s Rep. Gary Alejano of Negros Occidental filed an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday at the House of the Representatives’ Office of the Secretary General, citing the government’s bloody war on drugs, among others.
Alejano invoked the following grounds in calling for Duterte’s removal from office:
* culpable violation of the Constitution
* bribery
* betrayal of public trust
* graft and corruption, and
* other high crimes.
This first impeachment case against Duterte also cited the President’s alleged Davao Death Squad, the hiring of 11,000 ghost employees when he was still the mayor of Davao City, and hidden or unexplained wealth.
Cong. Jerry Treñas of Iloilo City, however, doubted if the impeachment complaint of his fellow Ilonggo legislator will prosper.
He said it would be “very difficult” for Alejano to gather the number of House votes required to impeach the President.
Under the Constitution, an impeachment complaint should be signed by one-third of the members of the House of Representatives before it is transmitted to the Senate.
Two-thirds of the Senate (16 senators) are needed to convict the President, impeachment rules state.
“Pila man lang ang minority members sa House,” Treñas told Panay News yesterday.
Treñas is a member of Duterte’s Partido Demokratikong Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) party.
Alejano acknowledged that his impeachment complaint faces rough sailing in the House.
“Batid namin na kung ang laban ay bilangan lamang, kami ay nahaharap sa napakabigat na balakid. Ganunpaman naniniwala kami na ang impeachment ay ilalaban hindi lang sa loob ng Kongreso kundi pati rin sa labas ng Kongreso,” he said.
He counted on the support of the Church, the academe and civil society “na hindi ibinoto, hindi sumuporta at hindi sang-ayon sa mga polisiya at kalakaran sa ilalim ni Pangulong Duterte.”
Under Article 11, Sec 2 of the 1987 Constitution, the President and other government officials “may be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust.”
“The filing of this complaint will prove that there is no destabilization plot. Impeachment is a constitutional process of ousting a sitting President,” said Alejano.
Cong. Richard Garin (1st District, Iloilo), the only other Iloilo PDP-Laban House member aside from Treñas, predicted the defeat of Alejano’s impeachment complaint.
This will be a “numbers game” and the President clearly has the number in Congress, said Garin.
“Very large majority ara sa partido sang President,” he stressed. “Kun based sa number ang away, mabudlay mag-prosper.”
Garin said he does not support ouster moves against the President.
“Ang serbisyo ni President Duterte wala pa gani naka-one year. So kinahanglan ta pa more time to solve our many problems,” said Garin.
Alejano is an ally of Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV who accused Duterte of amassing billions of pesos in undeclared wealth.
The senator was also behind former Davao City policeman Arturo Lascanas’ testimony against the vigilante Davao Death Squad, a group allegedly responsible for the killings of crime suspects and Duterte’s political opponents.
DESTABILIZATION?
In Malacañang, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said the filing of the impeachment complaint was part of the destabilization plot against Duterte.
“[N]o treason, betrayal of trust, bribery, graft and corruption, high crime and culpable violation of the Constitution has been committed. We reiterate that the so-called extrajudicial killings are not state-sponsored and the President has made sure he will not turn a blind eye to all uniformed personnel who violate and abuse their power,” said Abella.
He added: “No one is truly above the law, not even the President, but the administration upholds due process and is ready for the consequences of his actions and takes consideration above all the interest of the Filipino people.”
Asked on Monday about the prospect of going to jail for his war on drugs, Duterte stood by what he said were clear instructions to police to kill if their lives were in danger, and reiterated that he took full responsibility for the crackdown.
“I will do what I say in public and I am ready to face the consequences,” he told a news conference. “If I go to prison, so be it.”
Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito said there is “no compelling reason” to file an impeachment case against the President.
“Iba ang sitwasyon noong nanguna ang Magdalo sa ouster plot laban kay (then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) sa sitwasyon ngayon. GMA’s legitimacy was in question then, while President Duterte was given the mandate by the Filipino people,” Ejercito said.
Sen. Francis Pangilinan, on one hand, said the impeachment process is enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.
“Whether we agree or disagree with the filing of the complaint, we must respect the process as part of our constitutional democracy,” Pangilinan said.
Solicitor General Jose Calida said the first impeachment complaint filed against Duterte “won’t fly.”
“It will crash like a rudderless plane flown by witless pilots,” Calida said in a statement.
Calida assailed Alejano’s credibility, branding him a “toady of his braggart patron – Sen. [Antonio] Trillanes.”
Trillanes and Alejano were part of the munity in 2003 that failed to oust then President Arroyo when they were still with the military./PN
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