39 of 61 Mindanao lawmakers back complaint
- So how did representatives from Mindanao, the Dutertes’ stronghold, vote on the impeachment rap? Thirty-nine of 61 Mindanao lawmakers, or 64 percent, signed the complaint. “Accountability starts now,” said one.
- The bulk of Mindanao legislators who impeached the Vice President belies the traditional political wisdom that the southern region’s leaders and people tend to sway in favor of the Dutertes.
- In all, the Mindanao bloc contributed a fifth of the total impeachment votes against the Vice President, but it gained the support of only one among Davao region’s 11 congressional representatives.
ILIGAN CITY—“I voted ‘Yes’ to impeach Sara Duterte … The House has spoken. Now, it’s the Senate’s turn. Accountability starts now.”
Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Lordan Suan posted this statement on social media just minutes after the House of Representatives voted to transmit to the Senate the impeachment complaint against the Vice President on Wednesday afternoon.
The young Suan, who is on his first term as a lawmaker, is among the 39 Mindanao legislators who signed the impeachment complaint against Duterte for “culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.”
The 39 impeachment votes comprise 64 percent of 61 House members from Mindanao. In addition, there are two party list representatives from the region—Trade Union Congress of the Philippines Rep. Raymond Mendoza, husband of Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño Mendoza, and Association of Philippine Electric Cooperatives Rep. Sergio Dagooc.
The complaint garnered a total of 215 signatures or about 70 percent of the 306 House members.
How they voted
The bulk of Mindanao legislators who impeached the Vice President belies the traditional political wisdom that the southern region’s leaders and people tend to sway in favor of the Dutertes as they did in 2016 by giving then Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte a commanding lead in the presidential derby.
In all, the Mindanao bloc contributed a fifth of the total impeachment votes against the Vice President.
The strongest support came from the Caraga region with eight out of nine House members endorsing the impeachment complaint. This was followed by the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, with seven of eight; Western Mindanao, seven of nine; Northern Mindanao, 10 of 14; and Soccsksargen region, six of 10.
Diversion from issues
The impeachment gained the support of only one among Davao region’s 11 congressional representatives.
Davao City Rep. Isidro Ungab, a Duterte ally, said the impeachment move “is a futile exercise” as Congress will already be in recess starting Thursday.
“This is a diversion from the real issues which is the anomalous budget process,” Ungab said on social media.
Dr. Jean Lindo, chair of Gabriela Southern Mindanao and third nominee of the Gabriela Women’s Party, said the impeachment complaints against the Vice President were the people’s way of asserting their space in the democratic space.
She added that Duterte, herself, was not deprived of the due process of law.
“When the citizens filed the impeachment case, it was also the citizens’ collective right to do so. Their cases were filed as a result of the findings of [congressional] inquiry,” Lindo said.
“Our justice system has a way of protecting big-time politicians. Everything she did, I guess, was calculated. In all instances, you can see she was confident, always on the offensive side … The people, on the other hand, are asserting their democratic space. And that should happen in a democracy.” —WITH REPORTS FROM JULIE ALIPALA AND GERMELINA LACORTE
