Politically motivated? Chua says VP Sara’s impeachment underwent due process

The impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte at the House of Representatives underwent due process, Rep. Joel Chua said on Thursday, dismissing the allegations that the move was a political persecution.

“Ito naman po ay nasa proseso. Ito po naman ay nasa batas. Kaya wala po akong nakikitang masama dito. Ito ay dumaan naman sa masusing paglilitis,” he said.

(This is in the process. This is in the law. So I don't see anything wrong with it. It went through a thorough trial.)

Chua, one of the House prosecutors in the impeachment trial, also pointed out that the complaints have basis.

“Nakita naman po natin sa mga sumabaybay po sa [Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability] at nakita naman po natin talaga na may bashehan,” he added.

(For those who monitored the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, we really saw that there was a basis.)

Chua's statement comes after Duterte's brother, Davao City Rep. Paolo "Pulong" Duterte, called her impeachment "political persecution."

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“I am appalled and enraged by the desperate and politically motivated efforts to railroad the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte,” said Sara's brother.

“The sinister maneuvering of certain lawmakers, led by [Iloilo] Rep. [Janette] Garin, to hastily collect signatures and push for the immediate approval and transmittal of this baseless impeachment case is a clear act of political persecution,” he added.

Chua, however, maintained that the move was not rushed as he pointed out that impeachment complaints had been filed against the vice president two months ago and that the 19th Congress was about to end.

“Magkakaroon po ng one-year ban at back to zero po lahat ito. So ang ginawa ng House ay yung isang ruta po, yung tinatawag po natin na House action, ito ang paglalakap ng one-third vote,” he said.

(There will be a one-year ban, and it will all be back to zero. So what the House did was the other route, what we call House action, this is the one-third vote.)

Chua said the fourth impeachment complaint against Sara was supported because it only had seven articles, compared to the other complaints with around 20 articles.

'Separation of power'

Despite the call of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. earlier not to pursue the impeachment against Duterte, Chua said the House still pushed it because Congress is not a “rubber stamp” of the President.

“Tayo po ay isang demokrasyang bansa. Ito naman pong Kongreso, ito ay pagpapakita lamang na ang Kongreso ay hindi rubber stamp ng Presidente,” he said.

(We are a democratic country. This is just a manifestation that Congress is not a rubber stamp of the President.)

“Ito po ang ating separation of power. Kami po ay ehekutibo. Ginagampanan lamang po namin ang aming constitutional mandate o constitutional duty,” he added.

(This is our separation of power. We are the executive branch. We are only fulfilling our constitutional mandate or constitutional duty.)

The House of Representatives on Wednesday impeached Sara with 215 congressmen endorsing the verified complaint, which has been transmitted to the Senate for her impeachment trial.

According to the complaint approved by the House plenary, the complainants moved to impeach Sara "based on the grounds of Culpable Violation of the Constitution, Betrayal of Public Trust, Graft and Corruption, and Other High Crimes."

The impeachment complaint provides for seven Articles of Impeachment, namely:

• Conspiracy to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez;
• Malversation of P612.5 Million in confidential funds with questionable liquidation documents;
• Bribery and corruption in the DepEd during Duterte’s tenure by handing out cash to former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado (Procurement Head), Bids and Awards Committee Member Resty Osias, DepEd Chief Accountant Rhunna Catalan and Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda;
• Unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets in the Vice President’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth where her wealth increased by four times from 2007 from 2017;
• Involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City; 
• Destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder efforts, which include: boycotting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) while declaring herself "designated survivor," leading rallies calling for Marcos' resignation, obstructing congressional investigations by ordering subordinates not to comply with subpoenas, threatening bodily harm against the First Couple and Romualdez, among others;
• The totality of the Vice President’s conduct as the second highest official of the land.

The vice president has denied most of the allegations in the impeachment complaints even before they were filed at the House of Representatives. These include the supposed bribery of some Department of Education (DepEd) officials and alleged hidden wealth.

On the alleged threat to the president, she denied that it was an assassination plot and asked how it would be considered revenge if she was dead.

--Joviland Rita/ VAL, GMA Integrated News