Duterte: I will not resign

Metro Manila, Philippines – Vice President Sara Duterte said on Wednesday she is staying in office amid suggestions from some lawmakers for her to resign.

On Tuesday, some House lawmakers suggested for Duterte to step down as she seemed disinterested in her office for failing to attend budget deliberations.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Sept. 25, Duterte described these calls as a new “track” to remove her from office without a strong case for a supposed impeachment attempt.

“Kailangan ko sumagot sa 32 million na bumoto sa akin, hindi sa isa o dalawa na tao. Kaya hindi ako aalis dito dahil nilagay ako ng mga tao believing I will work for the country,” Duterte added.

[I need to respond to the 32 million who voted for me, not just one or two people. That’s why I won’t leave the office since they put me her, believing I will work for the country.]

Ako BICOL party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon, appropriations committee vice-chairperson, urged Duterte to quit if she is not keen on defending her budget.

Duterte said she will only talk to two House officials - appropriations chairperson and Ako-BICOL party-list Rep. Zaldy Co and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, whom she had accused of controlling the budget.

Possible plunder

While House members denied talks about impeaching the vice president, Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua said a potential plunder may possibly be a ground for impeachment.

READ: No Duterte impeachment talks - House members

Chua is chairperson of the committee on good government and public accountability which is looking into the supposed misuse of the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) confidential funds.

The Commission on Audit earlier disallowed P73 million out of the P125-million OVP confidential fund.

“I must stress at this point that the sheer vastness of these potentially misused funds sets this matter apart from other instances of irregularity and disallowance – these amounts easily surpass the threshold for the crime of plunder under our laws,” Chua said during the panel hearing.

In a chance interview, Chua was asked if the potential plunder may be a ground for impeachment.

“Possibly. Kasi palalim na nang palalim ‘yung ating imbestigasyon dito [Because our investigation is going deeper],” Chua replied.

La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V echoed Chua’s denial of impeachment talks. But he said filing an impeachment is possible if one would pursue it.

“‘Di pa naman tapos ang term. Kung may maghahain, anytime naman pwede nila ihain ‘yan… Kung titignan mo ang kongkretong mismong timeline ng paghahain ng impeachment, sabi nga nila hindi na po strategic ‘yan ‘pag nag-change na ‘yung susunod na term,” Ortega told reporters.

[Translation: The term is not yet done. If someone will file, they can anytime. But if you look at the concrete timeline of filing an impeachment, as they said it is not already strategic when the term changes.]

Orchestrating impeachment

Meanwhile, the vice president said only one person is orchestrating efforts to have her impeached through her known critic: Sen. Risa Hontiveros, ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, and former Sen. Sonny Trillanes.

Duterte did not name names.

“Although si France I think she’s serving two masters. Hindi siya direct doon sa isa… Isa lang ang handler nilang tatlo,” she said.

[Translation: Although with France Castro, I think she’s serving two masters. She’s not directly serving the one I’m talking about…They only have one handler.]

Duterte said she will name the person at the proper time.

“Siguro kapag lumabas na iyong story about sa kanya. Sasabihin ko iyong lahat ng alam ko. Pero hindi pa kasi lumalabas sa hearing itong pangalan niya,” she said.

[Translation: I might name the person once the story is out. I will tell you everything I know. But the name hasn’t been floated during the House hearing.]

The three personalities have yet to address Duterte’s claims.

Castro earlier told NewsWatch Plus that she is open to reviewing an impeachment complaint against Duterte should she receive one. Trillanes, on the other hand, has reportedly prepared 22 articles of impeachment against the vice president.

Impeachment not strategic

Meanwhile, a political analyst said it may not be a good strategy to kick out Duterte from office for now.

Jean Franco, UP political science professor, said an impeachment move would look like persecution.

“There has to be a momentum that would warrant an impeachment. Ito kasi hindi lang sya umaattend, meron unexplained na budget, (she didn’t only attend the hearings and there’s an unexplained budget. But then walang parang (there’s no) big momentum that would galvanize public support for impeachment proceedings,” she said.

Franco said this may not gain ground among other Duterte critics.

“Some of the…political opponents ni (of) Sara might not like her recent actions but they may not be supportive of impeachment. They will not go to that extent… I don’t think they’ll get all these people to agree that there should be an impeachment procedure,” Franco said.