LP on Duterte impeachment: Don’t look at us

MANILA, Philippines – Allies of former president Benigno Aquino III in the Liberal Party (LP) refuted yesterday the claim of President Duterte that the so-called “yellow” army is behind an impeachment plot against him, using the rampant extrajudicial killings as basis for the complaint.

Yellow is the dominant color of the LP.

“Definitely LP is not a Trojan horse. I don’t think so. First, he is overwhelmingly popular which amounts to a public approval of his programs. Secondly, he has an overwhelming majority in the House where impeachment starts,” said former speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr.

Belmonte is now identified with the super majority coalition of the PDP-Laban party under Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

The LP, Nacionalista Party, Nationalist People’s Coalition, Lakas-CMD and National Unity Party have allied themselves with the party in power.

The Quezon City congressman branded as baseless Duterte’s accusations that Aquino’s LP is using his government’s crackdown on the war against illegal drugs to destroy his image and plot an impeachment case against him.

“The chances of that are zero and nobody will even think of it. We should think positively as people. Let’s look forward to having great achievements instead of talking about negative things like impeachment,” he said.

Belmonte’s colleague, Rep. Winnie Castelo, also of Quezon City, shared the same opinion.

“It’s not true. We in the LP at the House, as part of the majority, are all out in our support to the legislative agenda of President Duterte,” he said.

“Any impeachment will not succeed not only because it does not have the numbers but most especially because it is devoid of any popular support from the public. Nobody even thinks of impeachment in the House so it is bound to fail even before it is discussed,” he added.

Another Quezon City congressman, Alfred Vargas, agreed, saying “there is no such thing as plot by LP to impeach the President.”

“This is the last thing we need. We don’t need this highly divisive and partisan exercise. We still have many problems to solve,” Vargas said.

As far as opposition congressman Edcel Lagman of Albay is concerned, “it is President Duterte who may be impeaching himself because of his inordinately improvident and ill-conceived rhetoric unmindful of compromising consequences.”

“There is no plot of the LP to impeach the President. In the first place, the majority of the LP members in the House belong to the super majority coalition which would resist any attempts to impeach the President,” the LP member said.

Another LP legislator, Raul Daza of northern Samar who is the oldest among House members, pointed out the fact that LP members come from both the majority and minority blocs “only means the LP is a democratic party.”

“We deny that we are plotting an impeachment. It is safe to say that we do not talk about impeachment,” said Daza, who, along with Lagman, Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat and Caloocan Rep. Edgar Erice, belong to the authentic opposition bloc in the chamber.

“We never talked about impeachment and this should not also be talked about because this harms our economy. We are on the same boat. We want the President to succeed. It just so happens that we want to provide a check and balance in his administration,” Erice said.

Leni to clarify matters

Vice President Leni Robredo also denied that the LP was plotting to oust Duterte, stressing that the party has been helping his administration pursue its reform agenda and anti-drug campaign.

Being the highest elected official from the LP, Robredo is considered to be the party’s chairperson.

Robredo said she “will clarify this with the President and clear the misinformation” during their Cabinet meeting at Malacañang today.

She said she will assure Duterte of the LP’s commitment to the reforms being undertaken by his government for the Filipino people.

Robredo is part of the Duterte Cabinet. She chairs the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council or HUDCC.

‘Who are they?’

Senators identified with the previous Aquino administration also strongly denied yesterday plotting to unseat President Duterte.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon, who is also vice chairman of the LP, noted that Duterte did not specify who were the “yellows” purportedly out to impeach him.

“We have not met on this and we deny that we are part of such plot if indeed such plot exists. The LP has nothing to do with it,” Drilon told reporters.

Senators Paolo Benigno Aquino IV and Francis Pangilinan also dismissed Duterte’s accusation.

Another LP member, Sen. Leila de Lima, strongly reacted to the allegations, saying she felt Duterte was again alluding to her.

“My God, where’s that coming from? Because that’s a big lie. It’s just, again, a figment of their wild imagination. There’s no such plot,” De Lima said. – With Helen Flores, Paolo Romero