Alvarez to go ahead with Leni impeachment Primary tabs

MANILA, Philippines —  House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez openly disagreed on Thursday with President Rodrigo Duterte’s disapproval of the planned impeachment of Vice President Robredo, stressing that the chamber is an independent branch of the government.

Alvarez said that although he agrees with many of the president’s positions, Robredo’s impeachment is one issue where he disagrees with the chief executive.

“Ginagalang ko po yung statement ng ating pangulo. We may agree with him dun sa mga maraming issues, but this time we disagree with him dahil po we are a separate branch of government and we are mandated by the Constitution to process all impeachment complaints kasi po yung may exclusive jurisdiction diyan. So we have to process all impeachment complaints na finile po sa mga impeachable officials,” he said in an interview with CNN Philippines.

Robredo has been criticized by Duterte allies for speaking about human rights concerns at a recent United Nations side event but no formal verified complaint has been filed against her.

In a pre-dawn media briefing, the president said Robredo’s video message to a United Nations side event, which her accusers are planning to use to have her impeached, was protected by her freedom of speech.

“Look, you know, we just had an election. Guys, lay off. Let’s stop it,” the chief executive said.

The president also said that he did not see any overt act that should necessitate Robredo’s removal. He added that the military and the police would also not support such a move.

Duterte also seemed to reject Alvarez’ doubts on Robredo’s mandate after the House speaker refused to call her “vice president,” saying he was not sure if she really won the vice presidency.

“Elected ‘yang tao eh. So why do you have to? Just because she keeps on harping on me? Hayaan mo. This is a democracy, freedom of speech,” the president said.

Alvarez also said that the House would still accept other impeachment complaints that may be filed in the future.

The speaker also refused to talk about the chances of the impeachment charge against Duterte to prosper. Doing so would preempt the work of the House Justice committee, according to Alvarez, who in the past called Sen. Leila De Lima the “number one” drug lord in the Philippines and said that Robredo feared losing her position because she knew that she did not really win last year’s vice presidential election.

He also downplayed the pronouncement of Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano, the main proponent of the impeachment against Duterte, that they were already consolidating the support of his House colleagues.

“Well that is his own according, ma’am. We are entitled to that. Iba naman yung according naming,” he said.

Alvarez said that he had not yet read the complaint submitted to his office by Oliver Lozano, a former lawyer for ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos.