Metro Manila, Philippines – House Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos said on Friday, Feb. 7, he was the first to sign the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte due to the latter’s remarks against his family.
Last year, Duterte said she will exhume the remains of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., the younger Marcos’ grandfather, and throw it to the West Philippine Sea. Duterte also said that she has hired someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Marcos – the congressman’s parents – as well as House Speaker Martin Romualdez, if she has been assassinated first.
READ: Marcos would ‘rather not’ comment on Duterte’s exhuming late father’s remains remark
“These are statements that can’t be taken lightly, especially from someone with such a high position. Nagtataka na nga ako kung bakit nagulat ‘yung tao [I’m baffled why the people were surprised],” the Ilocos representative said. “Of course, I’ll be the first one to sign.”
He clarified that while he was the first complaint signee, he did not spearhead the move.
Marcos explained that he filed the complaint because of his constitutional mandate despite his father’s opposition to an impeachment.
READ: Marcos: Impeachment vs. Sara will not help Filipinos
The House impeached Duterte with 215 representatives signing the complaint, more than one-third of the 306 lawmakers in the lower chamber, prompting the articles of impeachment to be automatically sent to the Senate for trial.
Senate President Chiz Escudero said the Senate will convene as an impeachment court in June when Congress resumes its session.
