Manila, Philippines – A group of clergy and lawyers submitted on Monday before the House Secretary General another round of impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.
The group, consisting of priests, nuns, and lawyers filed a new complaint, endorsed by ML partylist Representative Leila de Lima—becoming the third impeachment raps against Duterte this year so far.
The complaint includes grounds of culpable violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes linked with the alleged misuse of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and of the Department of Education during her time as the secretary, as well as the assassination threat against the President, the First Lady, and the former House Speaker.
It also included allegations over Duterte’s unexplained wealth, and acts of political destabilization.
On February 2, the two impeachment complaints were filed back to back, initiated by the Makabayan coalization and of civil society groups over similar allegations on fund misuse.
Both complaints were already transmitted to House Speaker Bojie Dy’s office on February 6, the initial lapsing date of the one year bar ruling by the Supreme Court.
On Tuesday, House Secretary General Cheloy-Garafil submitted as well the third verified impeachment complaint before Dy’s office.
Presently, all three impeachment complaints are pending action from Dy, and shall be included to the Order of Business of the Congress, and shall be transmitted to the House Justice Committee that will determine its sufficiency in form and substance to trigger the formal impeachment process.
On Duterte’s end, the camp said that they have anticipated the additional complaints, expressing readiness in addressing the complaints through an appropriate constitutional process.