KARAPATAN on today’s win of the impeachment case vs VP Sara Duterte

By Cristina Palabay
Karapatan Secretary General and one of the complainants in the 2nd impeachment complaint

The House of Representatives’ approval of the resolution on the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte and its transmission to the Senate is a win in the Filipino people’s struggle for accountability of the Dutertes and their corrupt cabal of human rights violators.

We, the people, should now be hyper-vigilant in demanding that the Senate convene the impeachment court and hold Sara Duterte fully accountable for corruption of confidential and intelligence funds and for the use of public funds to amass wealth for self-interest and commission of human rights violations.

The impeachment process should logically lead to the abolition of confidential and intelligence funds which have become the fascists’ war chest and pork barrel. It should also be a stark reminder that we should fight more fiercely against systemic corruption and traditional patronage politics as among the main factors that have resulted in years of impoverished conditions of Filipinos.

In the same breath, we are encouraged by this win to exact genuine justice and accountability from the Marcoses and the Dutertes for their crimes against the people. We the people do not deserve these hooligans in power. We deserve a government that upholds human rights and dignity, social justice and genuine democracy, the very tenets that these two factions of the ruling elite do not embody and uphold.