Impeach me, Rody dares critics on Espinosa slay

MANILA, Philippines - Drop the talk. Go ahead, impeach him.

This was President Duterte’s challenge to critics who claim that he may be impeached for supposedly siding with the policemen tagged in the killing of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa.

Duterte has said that he won’t abandon the Criminal and Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) personnel involved in Espinosa’s death even if the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) had concluded that the mayor was killed in a rubout.

Duterte’s critic Sen. Leila de Lima had said the President’s defense of the policemen could be considered an impeachable offense, pointing out that the act was tantamount to pardon, something that only the courts can do.

Duterte, however, was unfazed by De Lima’s statement.

“They can go ahead. Maraming daldal (They talk too much),” the President told reporters in Albay province yesterday, “I have to satisfy their lust for whatever. Let them be. Impeachable? Go ahead.”

Chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said Duterte’s support for the CIDG operatives does not constitute an impeachable offense.

“The duty of the President is to protect the members of the PNP (Philippine National Police) who are enforcing the law, his instructions. The NBI results show that (it) does not interfere with any government agency doing their work. But it doesn’t mean NBI is correct, because the courts have to decide whether they are correct or not,” Panelo said in a chance interview.

“Why should it be an impeachable offense? Is it even an offense? It is a duty being done by the President,” he added. 

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa does not believe that Duterte is really out to protect the group of Supt. Marvin Marcos, Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) chief, from prosecution, noting that the President did not interfere when NBI filed murder charges before the Department of Justice.

“The President just wants to express his support to the operating troops in our war on drugs by saying that he does not want them jailed,” Dela Rosa said, adding that Duterte is a lawyer and would not go to the extent of violating legal processes.

However, the Chief Executive could provide them with topnotch lawyers who could also ask the court to reduce the charge from murder to only homicide so they could post bail.

“He just wants to make the policemen feel that I am with you, I am supporting you on this war on drugs,” Dela Rosa noted.

Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon called on Duterte to respect the processes under the country’s criminal justice system and wait for the DOJ to finish its preliminary investigation.

“The President used to be a city prosecutor and he knows, a prosecutor exercises quasi-judicial functions, meaning when a case is before a prosecutor, he decides as a quasi-judicial officer. So we appeal to President Duterte to respect the process,” Drilon said.

Once the preliminary investigation is concluded and if the cases prosper and result in the conviction of the policemen, then Drilon pointed out that the President can exercise his power to pardon the concerned policemen.

“If he doesn’t believe that there was enough evidence to convict, he can exercise his power to pardon,” the senator added, noting that this presidential power is absolute.

Malacañang also shrugged off Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s allegation that Duterte was the mastermind behind Espinosa’s death, dismissing it as mere speculation.           

“That’s not fair, that’s not true,” presidential communications assistant secretary Ana Marie Banaag said in a press briefing.

Trillanes claimed that Duterte’s statement that he would not let the policemen go to prison because they were just following his orders proved that the President was behind the crime. 

Banaag, however, said the President was just emphasizing his tough stance against illegal drugs.

“What he (Duterte) ordered was the war on illegal drugs, he did not order the death (of Espinosa),” Banaag said.

Presidential communications secretary Martin Andanar said Duterte was boosting the morale of the PNP when he expressed his support for the CIDG personnel tagged in the Espinosa slay.

“The recent pronouncements of the President pertaining to the PNP, standing by his men, are critical to maintaining their high morale, with the end in view of succeeding in the anti-drug campaign,” Andanar said.  

“It should not be misinterpreted to mean that the President will intervene in investigations or any legal proceedings in order to exculpate erring cops,” he added.

Andanar said while the President continues to adhere to the presumption of regularity in the PNP’s performance of its duties, “he states in no uncertain terms that he will not interfere with any legal proceeding.” 

The progressive group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Duterte’s pronouncements on the CIDG members are “unacceptable and dangerous.”

“President Duterte’s recent statements on the killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa, that he will not allow the policemen involved to go to jail, encourage impunity and the blatant violation of the law,” the group said in a statement.

It added that Duterte should refrain from making pronouncements that can be interpreted as policy statements.  – With Cecille Suerte Felipe, Marvin Sy, Ghio Ong