House releases explainer video on VP Sara Duterte impeachment
Vice President Sara Duterte —File photo by Arnel Tacson | 黑料社
MANILA, Philippines — A video explaining why Vice President Sara Duterte was impeached was uploaded to the social media page of the House of Representatives on Thursday with the intent of educating the public about the merits of the case, Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon said.
Bongalon, in a press briefing, said that he prefers that the almost nine-minute video detailing the basis for Duterte’s impeachment be translated into local dialects so that more people would be made aware of the bases used by lawmakers.
“Well, probably it’s one way of educating the public because, for me, the Filipino people have the right to be informed of this impeachment proceeding. And it might be better if we can translate it to the local languages or dialects so that our fellow Filipinos could understand it better,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.
“I guess it’s one way for us to probably also explain to the people why we have signed the impeachment complaint. There are technicalities here, of course — the confidential funds, the misuse of the P612.5 million confidential funds, of course, this spending of more than 100 million in just 11 days. So there are technical matters there that the people need to know using a plain and simple language,” he added.
The video explained each article of impeachment cited in the House-verified complaint that was sent to the Senate. Some pieces of evidence, like Duterte’s online press briefings and other documents, were also shown to describe why lawmakers reached the decision to impeach the Vice President.
Article continues after this advertisementThere were seven articles of impeachment in the verified complaint against Duterte:
- betrayal of public trust, commission of high crimes due to her threats to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez
- betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption due to misuse of confidential funds within the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Office of the Vice President
- betrayal of public trust and bribery after giving money to key DepEd officials
- violation of the 1987 Constitution and betrayal of public trust due to unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets
- commission of high crimes due to involvement in extrajudicial killings in the drug war
- betrayal of public trust due to alleged destabilization plots and high crimes of sedition and insurrection
- betrayal of public trust due to her unbecoming conduct as vice president
According to Bongalon, the video also aims to dispel the notion that Duterte’s impeachment was borne out of politics.
“They might say that ‘it’s just political’ or ‘you are mad at the vice president,’ but that’s not the point. Our point here is that the people have to know what are the violations made by our Vice President, and why she is facing an impeachment case,” Bongalon said.
“So with that, I hope we can help them better understand what the impeachment case is all about and what Vice President Sara Duterte did for her to face an impeachment trial,” he added.
Duterte was impeached by the House last February 5 after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth impeachment complaint.
The House immediately transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate, as the 1987 Constitution requires a trial to start forthwith if at least one-third of all House members — in this case, 102 out of 306 — have signed and endorsed the petition.
READ: House impeaches VP Sara Duterte, fast-tracking transmittal to Senate
However, the trial has yet to start as the articles of impeachment were not forwarded to the Senate plenary before the session ended on February 5 — which means that Congress would have to reconvene first after the election season or through a special session to discuss the matter.
There are also conflicting opinions regarding whether it is proper for the current Senate to start the trial when the 2025 midterm elections would surely change the composition in the legislative chamber.
Former Sen. Panfilo Lacson believes, though, that there would be no issue if the impeachment trial would start with the 19th Congress and cross over to the 20th Congress, based on the same principle used by the judiciary — where jurisdiction of a court division does not change despite the resignation or retirement of a sitting justice.
Last Wednesday, Senate President Francis Escudero directed several Senate offices and personnel to prepare for the upcoming impeachment proceedings.
Earlier, Bongalon also said that Escudero’s decision might be a signal that the Senate had started tackling the matter with a sense of urgency.
