Marcos: Not the time to go through impeachment process

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. respects the statement made by Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile as regards impeachment, but stressed that this is not the right time to undertake an impeachment process.

In an ambush interview Friday, Marcos agreed with Enrile’s remark that the country could face a "very detrimental" precedent if the logic implied during the Iglesia Ni Cristo's National Rally for Peace will be followed.

“Well, you know, JPE is one of our best legal thinkers in the country. And he is right, there is a consequence to – there will be a precedent, and it will be very problematic,” Marcos said.

“But I still think that even if we – even if Congress is mandated to process these… Congress doesn’t have… The House doesn’t have a choice, and the Senate doesn’t have a choice once these impeachment complaints are filed,” he added.

Still, Marcos believed that it is not the time to go through an impeachment process.

“Well, I don't think that now is the time to go through that. So, ipaubaya na muna natin sa ating… tutal as a practical matter, papasok na tayo sa campaign period,” Marcos said.

[Well, I don't think that now is the time to go through that. Let us leave it to the ... because as a practical matter, we are heading into the campaign period.]

“Wala ng congressman, wala ng senador dahil nangangampanya na sila. Hindi tayo makakapagbuo ng quorum. And so, as a practical matter, the timing is very poor,” he added.

[There will be no congressmen, no senators since they will all be campaigning. We won't have a qurom.]

Enrile had stressed that impeachment is just a constitutional legal process to remove a government official from his or her office if there is ground and evidence to support it.

“As a nation and a state, we will incur a very detrimental precedent if we follow the logic implicit in the INC rally that they mounted. Are we prepared and ready to face the long term consequences of that INC move?” Enrile said in a Facebook post.

Enrile, who is tasked to advise Marcos on legal matters, also posed the following questions: “Can the INC with all its members amend the Constitution or suspend any of its provisions? Are we prepared to discard or sacrifice the value of rule of law for a person or a group of persons?”

The INC earlier maintained that the massive rally, attended by an estimated 1.8 million in different parts of the country, was not political even if it was meant to support Marcos' stance rejecting impeachment bids against his former running mate, Vice President Sara Duterte.

Marcos earlier said he would not support any impeachment move against the Vice President as it would not benefit the lives of Filipinos.

Following the rally, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said Marcos' stance remains unchanged. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News