Senate president on ouster plot: ‘I heard’
Ahead of a possible vote today by the House of Representatives to transmit the articles of impeachment, there are again talks about a plot to oust Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
In a statement on Sunday, Sotto said: “I leave everything to God’s plan. I trust His heart.”
“I heard. As always, I serve at the pleasure of my peers. I uphold and follow the Constitution,” he said.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian believes that Sotto remains “on stable ground” because “he is showing the right leadership here especially in times like these.”
Sen. Erwin Tulfo said those behind any coup would have a lot of explaining to do to the public.
“I don’t know where they will get the courage to do that,” he said in a radio interview with dzBB.
“It would be very obvious for the group who would initiate a coup d’état, how will they explain that to the public? That there’s a coup d’état to prevent the impeachment? That because of the impeachment there has to be a change in leadership? That’s not the answer. It’s actually a question because people will ask why they staged a Senate coup,” Tulfo said.
‘Creating intrigue’
Malacañang meanwhile denied the claim of Sen. Imee Marcos that the administration is coercing members of Congress to vote in favor of Duterte’s impeachment.
“There is greater credibility when every accusation is backed by evidence,” Palace press officer Claire Castro said as she accused some high-ranking officials of becoming “accustomed to relying merely on speculation.”
“It seems FPRRD’s practice of creating intrigue and planting evidence is highly contagious. Do not emulate it,” Castro said, referring to former President Rodrigo Duterte.
In a press briefing in 2016 after he was elected President, Duterte recounted that as a city prosecutor, he bent the law by planting evidence and sowing intrigues among criminals to make them turn on each other.
Legal threats
In a video statement on Sunday, Marcos, the eldest sister of the President, claimed some members of both the House and Senate were facing intimidation and threats to make them support the Vice President’s impeachment.
According to the senator, some lawmakers were being threatened with cases before the Office of Ombudsman while other agencies, including the Department of Justice, National Bureau of Investigation and Securities and Exchange Commission, were being ordered to pursue legal action against those who refuse to vote for Duterte’s impeachment.
Marcos added that some lawmakers had complained that their respective allocations under the national budget were marked “for later release,” leaving them with no funding for projects for their constituents.
