Vice President Sara Duterte gestures as she delivers a statement following her impeachment by the lower house of the Congress, at her office in Mandaluyong City. REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte should be ready for her impeachment trial now that she is back home in the Philippines, Deputy Majority Leader and La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V said on Monday.
In a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex, Ortega was asked if she had any message for Duterte, who returned to the Philippines from the Netherlands early Monday morning.
In response, Ortega said welcome back — joking that he does not expect the Vice President to give her any ‘pasalubong’ (treats).
“Welcome back po to our VP. Hindi ko alam kung bibigyan niya ako ng pasalubong. Siyempre magandang nakabalik siya kasi paghahandaan na itong mga susunod na buwan. In terms of ‘yong biyahe niya personal trip naman kasi talaga ‘yan at naiintindihan po namin,” Ortega said.
(Welcome back po to our VP. I don’t know if she set aside treats for me. But it’s good that she was able to return home because we are preparing for the developments in the coming months. In terms of her trip it was personal, and we understand that.)
“So welcome back po Ma’am,” he added.
Ortega then noted that Duterte should be prepared for the impeachment hearings, especially since she was the one who previously insisted that questions will be answered during the trial — after issues raised against her offices were not resolved during House committee hearings.
“Well, I guess she should be prepared kasi when we were doing the hearings, parang they were actually asserting na mag-impeachment na lang ‘di ba, para pag-debatehan, sa korte ilatag ‘yong mga ebidensya. So I think they should be (prepared),” Ortega noted.
(Well, I guess she should be prepared because when we were doing the hearings, they were actually asserting that we go through an impeachment so that we can debate on issues, and the evidence is laid down in court. So I think they should be prepared.)
“Well sa briefings, sa hearings, wala naman pong napaliwanag, wala naman pong maayos na pagsagot, kasi nga parang evasive sila sa issues na ‘yun eh. At sabi ko nga meron na pong impeachment…hindi na nila hindi pwedeng sagutin ‘yang mga tanong na ‘yan,” he added.
(At the briefings, hearings, they were not able to explain these things, there wee no clear answers given, they were evasive regarding issues mentioned. And as I said, there will be an impeachment proceeding, they cannot continue to evade those questions.)
Duterte was impeached by the House last February 5, after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth impeachment complaint, hinged on allegations of confidential fund (CF) misuse within her offices, and threats to ranking officials including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The articles of impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate, as the 1987 Constitution requires a trial to start forthwith if at least one-thirds of all House members — in this case, 102 out of 306 — have signed and endorsed the petition.
Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, had volunteered to lawyer for his daughter during the impeachment trial. However, last March 11, the older Duterte was stopped from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 as local authorities assisted the International Criminal Police Organization in enforcing an arrest order from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC arrest order was related to the crimes against humanity charges against ex-president Duterte, for his role in his administration’s drug war.
The former leader was eventually brought through a chartered plane to the Hague in the Netherlands, where ICC is based.
Earlier, Ortega said that Duterte’s offices — the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and previously, the Department of Education (DepEd) — could have cleared issues surrounding their CF use but they did not make use of available channels.
Over the past few months, lawmakers, particularly Ortega and members of the House committee on good government and public accountability, have revealed that there were peculiar names on acknowledgement receipts (ARs) — like a certain Mary Grace Piattos — whose name did not appear on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) database.
Duterte and officials from both agencies however did not explain who these individuals are.
ARs are proof of payment, or that funding for projects reached its intended beneficiaries — and for the case of OVP and DepEd, these are informants who provided confidential information to authorities.
But both agencies came under fire after hearings showed that allegedly fictitious individuals signed the ARs, like Piattos, who Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop noted had a name similar to a restaurant and a potato chip brand.
Later on, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs — one for OVP and another for DepEd — which were both received by Villamin. However, the signatures and handwriting used by the Villamin in the two documents differed.
