No plans to refile Duterte impeachment complaint - prosecutor

Metro Manila, Philippines - A House prosecutor has denied Deputy Majority Leader and incoming Senator Erwin Tulfo’s remarks of plans to refile the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte following the controversial remanding of the articles.

“Never heard of such a plan. There has been no discussion about any plan to refile the impeachment complaint,” Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores, who’s part of the 11-member House prosecution team, told NewsWatch Plus in a text message on Friday, June 20.

Flores was asked about Tulfo’s statement during a chance interview at the Senate on Thursday.

“I think that the House will really refile it. That's what I heard from my colleagues,” Tulfo said.

The senator-elect said he personally did not know how his colleagues plan to proceed, given the constitutional one-year ban on filing new impeachment complaints.

In another interview on Friday, Tulfo clarified that he was only sharing information given to him by two House lawmakers who are not part of the prosecution team.

“Basta usap-usapan lang. ‘Uy pare, uy sen, ifafile daw namin sa Congress’ – that’s what they are saying,” Tulfo recalled.

[Translation: It’s just talk. ‘Hey bro, hey senator, we’re supposedly going to file it in Congress’ — that’s what they’re saying.]

“I didn’t say na official na iyan irerefile ng Congress. Kaya nga sinasabi ko hangga’t hindi ‘yung House leadership ang nagsalita or part of the prosecution, then lahat kami siguro sa baba, kasi I’m still a member of Congress, e walang karapatan to issue a statement,” he added.

[Translation: I didn’t say it was an official plan that Congress will refile it. That’s why I said, until the House leadership or the prosecution team speaks, then probably all of us below—because I’m still a member of Congress—have no right to issue a statement.]

In a controversial 18-5 vote on June 10, the Senate, sitting as the Impeachment Court, returned the Articles of Impeachment to the House of Representatives pending certification that the complaint did not violate the Constitution and that the 20th Congress lawmakers would pursue the case—two legal issues consistently raised against it.