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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

DoJ backs Leni’s ouster

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MOVES to oust Vice President Leni Robredo will be pursued even though President Rodrigo Duterte has asked his allies to back off, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Sunday.

Aguirre II said House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez would push through with his plan to impeach Robredo against the President’s stated wishes.

“That’s the President’s personal opinion. Impeachment involves the power and discretion of Congress, so it will be a congressional call, not the President’s call,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre vowed to support the impeachment charges against Robredo based on her video message against President Duterte and his administration sent to the annual meeting of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs.

“What she did was she humiliated the Philippines before the international community. I’m sure that aside from damaging the image of the country, that definitely will have an effect on the economy,” he said. 

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Aguirre added the impeachment against Robredo, a vocal critic of the administration’s war on illegal drugs, would succeed if the complainants would be able to establish her violations of the Constitution.

“She could be impeached if they could prove that her claim [against the war on drugs] has no factual bases and it greatly damaged the country’s image and economy,” he implied.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II

Earlier, Solicitor General Jose Calida also expressed support for the impeachment plan, describing Robredo’s video message as “a treasonous act.”

Calida vowed to lend the legal services of his office to help in the proposed impeachment.

Duterte has asked his allies not to pursue the impeachment of Robredo even as he accused her of being behind the impeachment complaint filed against him by Rep. Gary Alejano of party-list group Magdalo.

The super majority coalition in the House is expected to throw out Alejano’s complaint, but the coalition has the numbers to impeach Robredo.

Duterte’s allies also enjoy a majority in the Senate, which will try Robredo if she is impeached by the House.

Alvarez believed that the vice president might have betrayed public trust in her video message to the UN that destroyed the country’s reputation before the international community.

Betrayal of public trust is one of the grounds under the Constitution for impeachment of an official, which law and political experts consider as a numbers game.

An impeachment complaint against Robredo was already filed before the House by Marcos lawyer and perennial impeachment complainant Oliver Lozano. A group of lawyers and academics supporting the Duterte administration is also preparing another complaint against her.

Robredo’s video message, posted by the DRCNet Foundation on YouTube on March 13, was played at the “Human Rights Challenge: Responding to Extrajudicial Killings in the Drug War,” a side session for the 60th United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting on March 16 at the Vienna International Center. 

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said he believed the President was not behind the impeachment moves against Robredo.

“I believe President Duterte said he was not involved. The same way VP Leni was not involved in the plan to impeach President Duterte,” Aquino said.

The senator criticized groups creating a division between Duterte and Robredo, saying the country will be on the losing end if the rift between the top two leaders widens.

Aquino also urged allies of President Duterte to follow his call to stop the impeachment of Robredo.

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, meanwhile, said the President’s invitation to Robredo and her family to a dinner was a trap to disarm and politically neutralize her.

“Let me remind everyone that it is the same tactic Duterte used early on during his term wherein he belatedly offered a Cabinet post to her,” said Trillanes.

“Then he made fun of her through his misogynistic remarks about her legs and knees,” he added.

Despite her appointment as housing czar, Robredo was not even given the latitude to appoint her own people, Trillanes said. Then, Duterte unceremoniously kicked her out of the Cabinet when it was politically convenient.

“Now, he’s at it again. Only the naive would be fooled,” Trillanes said.

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