PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said on Friday he blocked moves to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, saying it was a waste of time.
Interviewed during a visit to the Southern Luzon Command (Solcom) headquarters, Camp General Guillermo Nakar, in Lucena City, Marcos said he had sent a text message to his allies in Congress, urging them to drop any plan to file an impeachment complaint against Duterte.
“It was actually a private communication, but it got leaked,” he said of the text message.
TOUCHING BASE President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. meets the officers and soldiers in Camp General Guillermo Nakar, Lucena City, on Nov. 29, 2024, amid political tensions caused by a rift between the president and his Vice President Sara Dutere and calls to the Armed Forces of the Philippines to ‘protect the Constitution.’ PHOTO BY PRESIDENTIAL COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE
He said the impeachment complaint “does not make a difference to even one single Filipino life. So why waste time on it?”
It would only “tie down” Congress, Marcos added.
“What will happen if somebody files an impeachment? It will tie down the House. It will tie down the Senate. It will just take up all our time. And for what? For nothing. For nothing,” he said.
“As far as I’m concerned, it’s a storm in a teacup,” the president said.
Asked if he has reached the point where reconciliation with Duterte is no longer possible. Marcos replied: “Never say never.”
Duterte earlier said reconciliation was now out of the question.
Marcos and Duterte, who were running mates in the 2022 presidential elections, have been embroiled in a worsening clash over the past months after Duterte quit her post in the president’s Cabinet as education secretary.
The feud has since escalated, with Duterte admitting during a press conference last week that she instructed someone to kill Marcos, the first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and his cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, if she herself dies, a statement she has since claimed has been “maliciously taken out of context.”
Duterte said her remarks were not a threat and that she only highlighted the threat to her security.
“They can always try to impeach me. They can always spend and waste the government’s money to impeach the vice president,” she said.
On Wednesday, Duterte appeared resigned to accepting her fate in the event she was impeached, saying the Marcos administration was bent on going after her.
“If I get impeached, then that’s my end, tapos,” Duterte said in a press conference in Zamboanga City.
“They spend and squander government money to impeach the Vice President in order to cover up the shortcomings and lies of the administration, to cover up the unfulfilled promises, they will repeatedly attack me. They can try, and then let’s see,” she added.
During his visit to SolCom headquarters, Marcos told the troops not to be deceived by political noise and instead “stay focused” on their duty to defend the republic.
On Friday, House Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker David Suarez, and Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe said in a joint statement that impeaching the Vice President was not on the chamber’s agenda.
The three House officials said, “We also recognize that the House of Representatives has a constitutional duty to act on impeachment complaints filed by ordinary citizens against impeachable officials.”
“This is not just the responsibility of the institution but also the individual duty of each congressman to uphold the Constitution. Should an impeachment complaint be properly filed in accordance with the rules, the House is obligated to deliberate on it fairly and transparently, ensuring that the process adheres to the highest standards of justice,” they said.
House Assistant Majority Leader Jefferson Khonghun told reporters in an online interview there was no order from the House leadership to start impeachment proceedings.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada praised the President for dismissing calls to impeach Duterte.
“Impeachment is a political process, not a judicial one. I agree that we should not proceed with the impeachment,” Estrada said.
Impeachment would only sow divisiveness and distract legislators from the urgent and pressing issues they must collectively address, he said.
“I will continue to pray, and I will also ask this Christmas season that reconciliation prevails between our two highest leaders for the benefit of our countrymen,” Estrada said in Filipino.
Senate President Francis Escudero said he “won’t comment on anything that has to do with ‘impeachment.'”
Speaking on Thursday in Lingayen, Pangasinan, where she attended an activity to celebrate the 89th anniversary of the Office of the Vice President (OVP), Duterte urged residents not to vote for candidates who will try to buy their votes during next year’s elections.
“Kailangan nating maintindihan na hindi tayo dapat nagpapadala sa pagbili ng boto (We should understand that we should not allow ourselves to be influenced by vote buying),” she said.
The vice president said vote buying now comes in the form of different government financial assistance programs, such as Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program, assistance to individuals in crisis situations, and Tulong Pangkabuhayan sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers Program.
“Tanggapin natin, dahil pera naman ng bayan e, pero pag-isipan pa rin natin ang boto natin (Let’s accept the money. That’s people’s money, anyway. But let us think hard about who to vote for),” she said.
WITH GABRIEL L. CARDINOZA AND ASSOCIATED PRESS
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