Sara Duterte on Prosecution Team Dropping 3 Impeachment Articles

Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Not Surprised by Dropping of Impeachment Articles against her

SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President talked to her lawyer, Michael Poa, on the prosecution team’s move to drop 3 impeachment articles.

Early this year, four (4) impeachment raps were filed against Vice Pres. Duterte before the Office of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives. The first one was set aside by the House Justice Committee while the second complaint was withdrawn by the complainants.

Tindig Pilipinas decided to withdraw their complaint and support the third impeachment rap filed against Duterte. Several grounds were raised against the Vice President including the following:

• Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount over PHP 500 million confidential funds (CF) allocated to the Office of the Vice President from 2022 to 2023
• Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount of not less than PHP 112.5 million of confidential funds allocated to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the year 2023
• Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust by corrupting and bribing officials of the DepEd
• Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in contracting to murder or assassinate the president, the first lady, and the former speaker of the House
• Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose all her properties and interests in properties in her SALN
• Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in committing acts of political destabilization and the high crimes of sedition and insurrection

In June, the Senate convened as an impeachment court. Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero was elected as the presiding officer of the impeachment court even if the minority bloc opposed it believing that the impeachment court should be led by Senate Pres. Sherwin Gatchalian.

Here are the votes on the election of Escudero as the presiding officer of the impeachment court:

Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano previously claimed that the impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte may reach 2027 — that was prior to the prosecution team dropping the three (3) impeachment articles against the Vice President. The said articles of impeachment were about the alleged grave threats, bribery, and misuse of confidential funds by the Vice President.

Based on a report on TV5 News, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte was not surprised by the move of the prosecution team to drop the articles of impeachment against her. According to Atty. Justin Gular, the deputy spokesperson of the defense team, the Vice President and Atty. Michael Poa have talked.

“Napag-usapan nila nung Bise President ‘yung pag-drop ng mga articles of impeachment. I think your next question would be, ‘Ano po ba ang reaksyon ng Bise Presidente?’ Sasagutin ko na po, wala naman po, hindi naman po siya surprised. I think to quote Atty. Michael Poa, the Vice President said na you know let’s sleep on it, pag-isipan natin bago tayo mag akto,” Gular said.

Based on the report, the Deputy Speaker of the Defense Team revealed that even before the Prosecution Team dropped the articles of impeachment, there are already rumors that their team has heard about the possibility of the dropping of the impeachment articles. According to him, they were sure of one impeachment article only due to the manifestation filed.

“During the course of this trial, marami kaming information na nare-receive… Hindi naman po siya na surprise [VP Duterte] prior of the possibility [of the dropping of the impeachment articles],” he added.

Previously, amid the moves to oust her from office, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte stressed that she remains “standing still” and “unbowed”.