Over 32M votes rendered 鈥榰seless鈥� if VP impeach trial succeeds 鈥� lawyer
MANILA, Philippines — The over 32 million votes Vice President Sara Duterte got in the 2022 elections will be considered “useless” if the impeachment trial against her becomes successful, a lawyer said on Tuesday.
This is how Atty. Martin Delgra, former Land Transportation Franchising Regulatory Board chairman, reacted to the statement of Makabayan block lawmakers that the petition filed before the Supreme Court to stop the impeachment trial is a “last ditch effort to escape scrutiny.”
READ: Petition vs impeachment trial shows Duterte camp desperation — Makabayan
According to Delgra, if the lawmakers constitutionally followed the impeachment process, they would not have filed the petition.
READ: Petition to stop impeachment trial vs VP Duterte filed at Supreme Court
“That’s the reason why we pursued this because as we, as registered voters who voted for the Vice President, will make our vote inutil kasi kung successful yung impeachment. Mawawalang silbi ’yung boto namin,” Delgra said in a press conference.
Article continues after this advertisement(That’s the reason why we pursued this because the votes of us registered voters, who voted for the Vice President, will be useless if the impeachment is successful. Our votes will be useless.)
Article continues after this advertisementDuterte won a landslide victory in the 2022 elections with a total of 32,208,417 votes, drawing over 22 million margin against her closest opponent, former senator Francis Pangilinan.
“Nakita niyo naman siguro, nirailroad ’yung proceeding. There was no debate, there was no deliberation. It was just introduced, and voted upon,” Delgra added.
(As you can see, the proceeding was railroaded. There was no debate, there was no deliberation. It was just introduced, and voted upon.)
Further, Atty. Israelito Torreon, one of the petitioners, argued that the impeachment complaint is “constitutionally deficient, and is a violation of pertinent constitutional provisions and is likewise jurisdictionally void and the same should be dismissed and not entertained by the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Under Article 11, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution, a verified complaint shall be “included in the Order of Business within 10 session days, and referred to the proper Committee within three session days thereafter.”
Further, the fourth paragraph of Article 11, Section 3 states that a verified complaint filed by at least one-third of the House members “shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”
The House of Representatives impeached the Vice President on February 5, with 215 lawmakers voting in favor of the impeachment. The lawmakers backing the complaint officially reached 240 after the session.
