No plan to impeach VP Sara Duterte at the moment —solons

Members of the House of Representatives are not keen on pursuing an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte as of this time, administration lawmakers said Wednesday.

Tingog party-list Representative Jude Acidre of and Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Adiong made the position amid the ongoing inquiry of the House good government and public accountability committee on the budget use of the Office of the Vice President and during her tenure as Education secretary.

“Una, ang layunin ng House committee on good government ay hindi i-impeach ang Bise Presidente. Let's be clear on that. There are certain issues already identified in the previous speech of the Honorable [Rolando] Valeriano [of Manila] as well as the observations during the oversight hearing of the Committee on Appropriations,” Acidre said in a press conference.

(The goal of the House committee on good government is not to impeach the Vice President.)

“We want to be clear. We want to be honest to the people. Now, whether will this lead to an impeachment or not, I think it's premature to say at the very least. We still have to hear from others. We still have to establish the circumstances,” he added.

Taking on the impeachment route, Acidre said, should be based on a solid ground.

“Impeachments...they are not to be taken lightly. In recent years, the impeachment has been weaponized, it has been used to scare off people, when it should not be the case,” he said.

"Ito (impeachment) po ay isang pamamaraan sa ating Saligang Batas para mapanatili ang tama sa gobyerno. At kung kailangan mang umabot doon, I don't think ang Kongreso ay magdadalawang isip. Pero sa ngayon, wala po sa isip namin yan,” he added.

(The impeachment process is provided under our Constitution to ensure good governance. If that time comes, I don’t think Congress will think twice but, for now, it is not on our minds.)

Adiong, for his part, said the ongoing inquiry should be finished first before the House members can draw a conclusion.

“It’s premature to even say that this leads to the impeachment...filing of an impeachment or articles of impeachment because firstly, we invited them [seven OVP officials] four times. They are important individuals [in this inquiry] who keep refusing our invitation. So it's not only premature, but it's not yet substantial,” he said.

Adiong was referring to OVP chief of staff Zuleika Lopez, Lemuel Ortonio, Atty. Rosalynne Sanchez, Julieta Villadelrey, Gina Acosta, Atty. Sunshine Fajarda, and Edward Fajarda, who again skipped the congressional inquiry on Tuesday despite a standing subpoena ad testificandum issued against them.

“Although there are substantial testimonies by a number of resource persons, witnesses, we have yet to find out what really happened as far as the utilization of these funds from selected individuals. It really depends on these seven individuals who are yet to show up,” Adiong said.

"I would like to reiterate that it is not within the purview of the committee members to contemplate on that (impeachment). We're just doing our job, we're just holding these officers accountable for the allegations of the misuse of public funds," he added.

An impeachment complaint needs to be endorsed by a member of the House of Representatives for it to be considered filed.

Article 11, Section 2 of the Philippine Constitution states that “the President, the Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and the Ombudsman may be removed from office on impeachment, for and conviction of, culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust."—AOL, GMA Integrated News