No endorsers yet of impeach raps vs VP, ombudsman

MANILA, Philippines -  The impeachment complaint against Vice President Leni Robredo has yet to be endorsed at the House of Representatives, justice committee chairman Reynaldo Umali said yesterday.

Umali also said the impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales has not been filed and that there were also no endorsers for it so far.

Any Filipino citizen may initiate an impeachment complaint but the document must be endorsed by a lawmaker for it to be considered filed at the House.

Asked during the weekly Kapihan sa Manila Bay media forum in Manila yesterday if Robredo’s impeachment could be tackled soon, Umali, who represents Oriental Mindoro, just said “not yet.”

Two Marcos loyalists – lawyer Oliver Lozano and broadcaster Melchor Chavez – and the Impeach Leni Movement filed separate impeachment complaints against Robredo for alleged betrayal of public trust in connection with a video message she sent to a United Nations side event where she criticized the administration’s war on drugs.

Meanwhile, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said it would file an impeachment complaint against Morales for dispensing “selective justice” and inordinate delays in the resolution of cases filed before the anti-graft body.

Umali said the same rules used in the impeachment complaint against President Duterte would prevail in the cases against Robredo and Morales.

He said the House justice committee would look into the form, substance and probable cause of the impeachment complaints.

When his committee tackled the impeachment complaint against Duterte last Monday, Umali said they had to hold marathon hearings that resulted in its finding that the documents attached to the complaint were neither well-documented nor certified.

They also had an hour-long executive session before they found that the complaint was insufficient in substance. “The decision really comes from each member of the committee,” Umali noted.

Voting 42-0, the committee members junked the complaint against Duterte on charges that he amassed ill-gotten wealth, ordered the killing of thousands in the course of his war on drugs and failed to defend the country’s sovereign rights and territorial claims when he reportedly allowed Chinese presence in Benham Rise.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who was the first to threaten Robredo with impeachment also because of the UN video, said no endorsement for the impeachment complaints against Robredo and Morales should be expected anytime soon because lawmakers are still studying the contents.

According to the Speaker, the earliest time the public may expect an endorsement will be in August. This is because the 17th Congress will take a break starting June 3 and resume session sometime in August.

Also, Pwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles accused lawyers Bruce Rivera and Trixie Cruz-Angeles of the Impeach Leni Movement of including his name as co-complainant, messenger or endorser in the impeachment complaint against Robredo allegedly without his consent.

The VACC claimed in a press conference yesterday at least 30 lawmakers were willing to endorse the impeachment complaint against Morales.

The group said the complaint would be “rolling” very soon. – With Romina Cabrera