KARAPATAN and relatives of victims of rights violations who are among the 72 signatories to the second impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte called on district and partylist representatives in Congress to thoroughly consider the evidence presented in the impeachment complaint and lend their signatures to the resolution of impeachment.
Responding to criticisms that the impeachment process is divisive to the nation, KARAPATAN secretary general Cristina Palabay, one of the complainants, said, “It is divisive in that it draws the line between those who are against corruption and those who condone it. The impeachment process draws out those who truly favor the people’s interests and those who favor the narrow interests of a few,” she added.
Palabay moreover took exception to statements made by Ferdinand Marcos Jr. discouraging the impeachment. “He should not interfere in the workings of a co-equal branch of government,” said Palabay.
“His statements have already been exploited by elements who want Sara Duterte to evade accountability for misappropriating hundreds of millions of pesos in Confidential and Intelligence Funds (CIF). Looking the other way in the face of massive corruption is Marcos Jr.’s brand of trapo politics. There is solidarity among thieves,” she added.
Palabay urged the members of the House of Representatives to assert their independence as a body, appreciate the impeachment complaint on its merits and give it their full support.
The impeachment complaint signed by KARAPATAN and more than 70 others was endorsed by the Makabayan bloc and is the second to be filed in Congress. It accuses Sara Duterte of betrayal of public trust for misappropriating and abusing P612.5 million in CIF of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) when she was its secretary.
A third impeachment complaint will reportedly be filed this week.