Progressive organizations led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) trooped to the House of Representatives on Monday, November 25, to call for VP Sara Duterte’s impeachment amidst the ongoing house proceedings regarding the liquidations of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) in the Department of Education (DepEd) and Office of the Vice President (OVP).
‘Mere delaying tactics and theatrics’
Duterte became embroiled in public scrutiny following issues of alleged misuse of P612.5 million CIF in 2022 and 2023 surfaced during committee deliberations of OVP’s requested P2.037 billion budget for 2025.
Since then, the committee has sought to reduce the budget, submitting only the recommended P733 million budget proposal to the plenary after slashing P1.293 billion from the original request.
Consequently, in September, the OVP was made to answer CIF misuse allegations in the following house inquiries spearheaded by the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability. The investigation bore observations regarding anomalous acknowledgement receipts (AR) and even claims of ‘bribery’ as attested by DepEd officials. The OVP and its staff have since snubbed these hearings, despite being cited in contempt for doing so.
Tensions during the probe escalated, however, when Duterte’s chief of staff Atty. Zuleika Lopez appeared in the November 20 hearing. Lopez was then cited in contempt and detention following her evasive answers to the questions of lawmakers despite penning a letter to Commission of Audit (COA) to block the release of CIF report to lawmakers.
Lopez’ detention earned the ire of Duterte herself. The elusive Duterte showed up on the House premises wherein Lopez was detained, refused to leave, and launched an impromptu online press conference midnight of November 23. The vice president did not mince words in launching a tirade against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, going as far as admitting to hiring a hitman to assassinate the three if she died.
BAYAN has slammed the latest development on the hearings, citing that these theatrics from the vice president are more than enough for grounds of impeachment.
“This is the people’s money we’re talking about. It is not Sara’s [Duterte] money. It’s her obligation as a public official to explain what happened to the funds. Stop the theatrics! Nobody’s fooled anymore,” said Jerome Adonis of Kilusang Mayo Uno, a senatoriable under MAKABAYAN.
‘Evidence more than enough for impeachment’
MAKABAYAN President Liza Masa slammed the vice president in her speech during the mobilization, citing that the public is already exasperated with the theatrics and antics displayed by the Duterte camp during the hearing.
“Duterte is not fit to remain as a public official. It’s obvious why she’s resorting to mere antics: she wants to absolve herself from the investigations regarding the misuse of the confidential and intelligence funds. These anomalies are enough bases [for impeachment],” Maza said.
Adonis, in a separate interview, stated that decisive actions should be carried out by the Marcos administration regarding the matter at hand.
“He [Marcos] cannot just sit idly while this is unraveling. So many of our countrymen are in poverty. Workers are barely scraping by. Hunger abounds and yet public funds are shamelessly plundered,” Adonis continued.
Maza added that the recent death threats made by Duterte in her press conference is more than enough for her to be apprehended.
“Back then, an ordinary citizen made a death threat against former President Duterte and he was immediately arrested. Why is Sara Duterte still roaming around and making press conferences left and right after making her threats known? Where is the justice in all these? Ordinary citizens are immediately made to answer to the law because of this. Yet if you are the vice president, despite being corrupt and committing crimes to the people, you remain free and hold your power over the country,” Maza railed.
BAYAN has confirmed that it is preparing to mount an impeachment complaint against the vice president, primarily on the basis of the recent findings on the probe regarding the CIF.
For an impeachment to push through, citizens or a representative’s complaint must first pass through committee review. House members will then adopt the articles of impeachment through a one-third vote of all members of the House for the complaint to move toward the Senate trial. From there, two-thirds of the senate vote must be obtained for the impeachment to push through. To convict the vice president, at least 16 out of the 24 senators must vote in favor of it.
Should the impeachment push through, the official in trial will be removed from office and barred from holding any public post in the future.
“The people are tired of the ‘trapo’ politics, the political infighting, and the foolishness of these public officials. Sara Duterte must answer to the people for her misuse of public funds, for the loss of trust and confidence of the Filipino people because of her transgressions. The people will not stop mobilizing to call for her impeachment. Her days of corruption will end and the day of reckoning will come for her,” Maza ended.
