Bongbong: Executive branch not involved in VP Sara's impeachment

Like his previous statements, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. reiterated that he had nothing to do with the impeachment complaints lodged against Vice President Sara Duterte.

“No. The executive cannot have a hand in the impeachment. The executive has no role in impeachment,” Marcos told reporters in a press conference.

“Of course, did we discuss it with the Speaker, did we discuss it with the other congressmen? Of course,” he added.

However, even if the Palace seemingly distanced itself from the issue, it is noticeable that the President’s son, Ilocos Norte 1st District Rep. Sandro Marcos first signed on the endorsement of the impeachment vote.

When asked, Marcos said Sandro sought his opinion.

“It’s very simple what I told him. And he said, ‘It looks like they’re going to sign.’ And I told him, I said: ‘The process has begun,'” he said. “It’s your duty now to support that process. So, do your duty.”

The President reminded his son that he is Constitutionally mandated to carry out the process. However, Marcos was surprised that Sandro was the first to affix his signature.

Marcos stressed that his allies in the House did not file any impeachment complaints.

“None of those who say they are my allies in the House filed for impeachment. Because that's what I asked them to do, so they didn't file for impeachment,” he said.

To the lawmakers who did file for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, Marcos said they just did what they felt was needed to be done.

At least 215 out of 306 lawmakers voted to impeach Duterte.

Defiance from the House?

While the impeachment complaints proceeded in the lower chamber, despite Marcos’ appeals, the Chief Executive does not see this as a “defiance” from House members.

“I am sure that the parties that filed the impeachment cases felt strongly about it. And despite my importuning and expressing my opinion that we really — we’d rather not have the impeachment, they continued to do that,” Marcos said.

“I don’t view that as a defiance. I view that as some… They’re expressing what they feel to be right,” he added.

Impeachment process up to the Senate

Marcos said he will leave the decision to the Senate on how they will tackle the impeachment complaints against the Vice President.

“It depends on how the Senate chooses to handle it. It is not yet clear what the Senate President's plan is and how our senators will do it. If they will immediately convene, if they will still study the rules, if they are going to wait until the next session,” he said. “So, we'll have to wait until they decide on how it's going to be.”

On Wednesday, the Senate of the Philippines received the Articles of Impeachment from House Secretary General Reginald Velasco.

While the documents arrived at the Senate, the upper chamber did not dive into the impeachment complaints and proceeded to suspend the session until June.

Marcos said that the Senate may call for a Special Session to proceed with the impeachment trial but as of now, no requests have been filed.

Earlier, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said there will be no impeachment trials against Duterte while Congress is on break.

Escudero explained that special sessions are only for important things or to tackle bills that need to be passed.