VP Sara: Impeach process a chance to defend self

MANILA, Philippines — While undergoing impeachment proceedings is an “inconvenience,” Vice President Sara Duterte said she is ready to welcome it, as it can give her the chance to defend herself in a proper venue.

Duterte is reportedly expecting the impeachment effort to proceed in earnest in the early part of 2025.

“I believe, and of course this is just my personal sentiment – our people in the Office of the Vice President and some other supporters have a different sentiment – that this will be a way or an avenue for me to properly answer the accusations against me,” Duterte said in Filipino in a chance interview yesterday with local reporters in Davao City.

“It is an inconvenience because, of course if you’re facing an impeachment complaint, you have to hire lawyers and support staff, of course you have to pay them. But otherwise, for me, this is OK, because I can answer the allegations,” the Vice President said.

She said impeachment proceedings are more structured, where all the allegations against an impeachable official are meticulously laid out and presented through the articles of impeachment.

This means, she said, no other allegations outside the Articles of Impeachment can be entertained by the Senate convened as an impeachment court.

“They (congressmen and senators) must follow the rules of impeachment. Under the rules, all the allegations must be laid out beforehand. So, I think we can answer better,” Duterte said.

Lawmakers belonging to the Makabayan bloc earlier said they were gathering signatures from one-third of over 300 House members before submitting their impeachment complaint to the plenary, possibly by next week before Congress goes on Christmas break. The other impeachment complaint was filed by civil society groups and Akbayan.

Makabayan’s complaint centers on her alleged betrayal of public trust. Other grounds for her impeachment, according to some quarters, are culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption including her supposed misuse of confidential funds, as well as her alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings when she was Davao City mayor.

At a press conference last Wednesday, Duterte admitted that while she believed in her lawyers’ competence to defend her, she was wary of the position of a significant number of congressmen who – she claimed – have turned against her.

“No, we’re not confident with numbers now because impeachment is a … in the legal aspect, we’re confident because all the lawyers are reviewing the drafts of the complaint, but with regard to politics, that’s a different matter altogether,” Duterte said.