Progressive, civil society leaders refile impeachment complaints vs Sara Duterte

MANILA, Philippines – Progressive and civil society leaders leaders who submitted the first batch of impeachment petitions against Vice President Sara Duterte last year filed fresh complaints against her on Monday, February 2.

The move came after the Supreme Court adjusted to an earlier date the expiration of Duterte’s one-year immunity against impeachment.

The SC said in its initial decision that complainants had to wait until February 6 to file a new complaint against the Vice President, but in its new ruling, the one-year bar lapsed on January 15.

The first refiled complaint was filed by leftist leaders and endorsed by the three-member Makabayan bloc. 

The second set of complainants include Father Flavie Villanueva, a priest who has been a vocal critic of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, as well as Tindig Pilipinas convenors — democracy icon Ninoy Aquino’s grandson Francis Aquino Dee, University of the Philippines professor emerita Sylvia Estrada Claudio, and former presidential peace adviser Ging Deles.

Their petition was endorsed by ML Representative Leila de Lima and Akbayan Representative Perci Cendaña. 

The two complaints echo allegations of the first petition last year — that Duterte allegedly committed betrayal of public trust over her alleged misuse of public funds, but also now includes the affidavit of detainee Ramil Madriaga.

“Through his sworn statement, Madriaga made public additional information, on top of the initial findings of the COA and the documents and testimonies unearthed during the House hearings, that prove that Respondent’s attestations in her certifications to liquidate the confidential funds are false,” Makabayan’s complaint read. 

The complaints they filed last year, alongside two other petitions against the Vice President, were never referred by the House leadership to the justice committee, which was the original legal signal that the impeachment process had technically been initiated. Instead, the House acted on the fourth complaint which met the constitutional requirement of having been signed by one-third of all House members.

In affirming the unconstitutionality of Sara Duterte’s impeachment, the SC said even the non-referral to the justice committee of a properly verified complaint endorsed by a House member within constitutional periods is deemed as an initiation of the complaint.

In the 19th Congress, 215 out of 306 lawmakers — or more than two-thirds of the House — backed Duterte’s impeachment, but it remains to be seen whether impeachment advocates can muster the same level of support this time around amid a volatile political landscape.

There are more vocal Duterte supporters in the Lower House of the 20th Congress than in the previous one. The Vice President’s status as frontrunner of the 2028 presidential elections also make it challenging for anti-Duterte lawmakers to court fence-sitters who don’t want to take the risk of upsetting a potential future president.

The House is also no longer led by Leyte 1st District Representative Martin Romualdez, a political nemesis of the Vice President.

The filing of the complaint against Duterte coincides with the first day of the House justice committee hearing on the impeachment complaints against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The two complaints against Marcos cite his role in the public works scandal and the overall budget mess, although the first petition also want the President removed from office for allegedly enabling the detention of former president Duterte in The Hague, and the President’s alleged drug addiction. – Rappler.com