Palace distances itself from impeach bid vs Sara

A day after an impeachment complaint was filed against Vice President Sara Duterte, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin distanced President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. from the issue, asserting that the Office of the President “has nothing to do with it.”

Bersamin said the filing of the complaint in the House of Representatives was an “independent initiative.”

“The impeachment complaint filed in the House of Representatives by several private citizens is clearly the complainants’ independent initiative,” he said.

“Its endorsement [is] the prerogative of any member of the House. The Office of the President has nothing to do with it. The President’s earlier statement on the matter was unambiguous,” he added.

Earlier, Duterte accused Marcos of plotting to remove her from office.

Recently, a text message from “BBM” was leaked. It urged the lower chamber not to pursue impeachment against the Vice President. Marcos later confirmed sending the text message, averring that filing an impeachment complaint at this time would only distract “from the real work of governance which is to improve the lot of all Filipinos.”

“That’s really my opinion. This is not important,” Marcos said. “This does not make any difference to even one single Filipino life. So, why waste time on this?”

He noted that an impeachment trial would only take up the time of the House and the Senate.

“None of this will help improve a single Filipino life. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a storm in a teacup,” he said.

Duterte is facing multiple issues regarding the alleged misuse of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, the agency she previously headed.

Adding to the mounting pressure on the Vice President, her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, was detained in the House of Representatives after being cited in contempt due to the evasive answers she gave during the House committee’s investigation into the CIF.

Later, the committee ordered Lopez transferred to the Correctional Institution for Women jail in Mandaluyong City, which infuriated Duterte further and led to her profanity-laced midnight tirade against Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

During the late night press conference, Duterte said that if an alleged plot to kill her succeeded, she had contracted someone to assassinate the First Couple and the Speaker, “no joke.”