January 11, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives is ready to transmit the three impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte anytime, House secretary general Reginald Velasco said yesterday.
Velasco told reporters that the complaints filed by Akbayan, Makabayan and a group of lawyers and priests have already been verified by his office.
All three impeachment complaints filed against Duterte stemmed from her alleged misuse of the P612.5-million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when she was still its secretary.
Velasco said the legal department of the House immediately conducted verification proceedings on the complaints filed against Duterte.
“Our legal department reviews a complaint as soon as it is filed. As of today, all three have been verified,” he told reporters. “All three are ready for transmition to the House Speaker.”
Under the Constitution, the House Speaker has 10 days within which to include the matter in the order of business of the plenary.
On the other hand, the plenary has three days within which to refer the complaints to the House committee on justice.
But should the complaints gather at least one-third, or support from 106 out of over 300 members of the House of Representatives, the complaints can be immediately forwarded to the Senate for trial and decision.
The House of Representatives, which took a Christmas break, will resume its regular session on Jan. 13.
On Wednesday, the complainants and endorsers of the three impeachment complaints against Duterte urged the House to immediately act on it before the regular session ends on Feb. 7.
At a press conference, former Bayan Muna congressman Teddy Casiño said they will ramp up their actions next week to push Congress to do its duty and act on the impeachment of Duterte.
The Makabayan, the group supporting Akbayan and the group of lawyers and priests which had filed the three complaints against Duterte, agreed to intensify their call for Congress to act on the impeachment.
“Basically, the complainants in the first, second and third complaints agreed to call on Congress to act on our complaints as soon as possible. Whether they consolidate it, or whether they will just support one of it. Whatever it is, they have to act within the session days allotted until Feb. 7, 2025,” Casiño said.
“What we want is for Congress to immediately transmit to the Speaker our complaints and then to the committee on justice so that it will be then tackled and be decided upon,” he added.
The complainants and endorsers of the three impeachment complaints against Duterte echoed that they want Sara “impeached” before the end of 2025.
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