Makabayan wants impeachment complaint in House order of business
The Makabayan bloc will file the second impeachment complaint against President Marcos at the House of Representatives today and is targeting its inclusion in the order of business by the afternoon as plenary session resumes.
ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Gabriela Rep. Sarah Elago, and Kabataan Rep. Renee Co, who will be accompanied by the complainants, said they will ensure that the complaint will be received personally by House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil.
“We hope that there would be no more excuses on the part of the House in accepting the complaint and further obstructing efforts toward accountability. Enough of delaying tactics—the Filipino people deserve answers, and the Constitution demands action,” Tinio said in a statement on Sunday.
The group filed the complaint on Thursday, but was turned away by the Office of the Secretary General because Garafil was not in the office to receive the complaint. At that time, she was in Taipei to receive the Order of Brilliant Star with Grand Cordon from Taiwan’s foreign ministry.
Former Bayan Muna lawmaker Neri Colmenares, however, said there is no rule stating the secretary general should personally receive the complaints.
“It is deemed served […] the requirements are a verified complaint from citizens and an endorsement, we have fulfilled that,” Colmenares said on Thursday.
Transmittal
The bloc expects Garafil to transmit the impeachment complaint today to Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III.
This second complaint against Mr. Marcos cites betrayal of public trust as reason to remove him from office.
In particular, the petitioners said he is responsible for the National Expenditure Program used in allocating infrastructure budgets, now under probe for anomalies.
Duterte impeachment
They added that he should be accountable for unprogrammed appropriations, citing that these funds may only be released with the President’s signature.
On the other hand, the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte at the Senate may reopen if the Supreme Court grants the House’s motion for reconsideration (MR), Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said.
“If they (high court) will grant the MR, it means that we will be going back to the impeachment process. It means that the impeachment complaint archived in the Senate can be reinstated,” Luistro said in a media forum on Saturday.
The House filed the MR after the high court ruled the impeachment proceedings as “unconstitutional,” citing that it did not follow the one-year ban rule.
However, Luistro said Congress would need to follow the requirement of notice and hearing if the court denies the MR.
“If the decision of the Supreme Court is to deny the motion for reconsideration, it only means that the requirement of notice and hearing for the second mode of impeachment, the one filed by at least one-third, even if it does not go through the justice committee, we need to follow the requirement of notice and hearing,” she said.
“Because this is the way the first impeachment complaint against the Vice President was filed. It was filed under the second mode. And we can remember during that time there were more than 200 members of the House who signed and verified before the secretary general on the impeachment complaint,” she added.
The Constitution provides two modes to file an impeachment complaint: by any House member or by a citizen with the endorsement of a House member; or by at least one-third of the House of Representatives through a verified complaint or resolution.
Some groups are reportedly planning to file fresh impeachment complaints against Duterte starting Feb. 6, when the one-year bar rule lapses.
Duterte is accused of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds and being involved in an alleged assassination plot against the President. It was backed by 215 House members, crossing party lines. Only one-third, or 102 out of 306 members, are needed to approve the articles of impeachment.
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