PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is not blocking the processing of the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, Malacañang said Friday.
In a press conference in Pasay City, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin refuted the claim of lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc at the House of Representatives that Marcos’ alleged “interference” was delaying the impeachment proceedings against Duterte.
“He [Marcos] is not blocking. He cannot do that because it is the discretion of the collective of the lower house. If they decide to initiate, there is no way of preventing that,” Bersamin said.
Marcos is merely expressing his views on the impeachment move but is not dictating the lower chamber to delay the processing of the complaints, Bersamin said.
Bersamin said the House has the prerogative to endorse the impeachment complaints against Duterte.
“You know, that under the Constitution, the impeachment must emanate from the lower house, okay? Now, if the president has made the statement at all, about that process, it is only an opinion that he stated because he probably the thinking of the President is that might be distracting us from our agenda or our move forward,” he said.
“We cannot dictate on the lower house. It is co-equal, belongs to a co-equal branch of government. All we were saying, the president was saying to the lower house, this is my position,” Bersamin added.
In an interview in Burauen, Leyte, on Jan. 17, Marcos said it would not be practical to push for Duterte’s impeachment, citing the “very poor” timing of the move, given that the mid-term elections would be held this year.
Duterte is facing three impeachment complaints before the House of Representatives for alleged violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, plunder and malversation, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes as grounds for impeachment.
In November 2024, Marcos said filing an impeachment complaint against Duterte would only distract the government from the real work of government “which is to improve the lives of all Filipinos.”
