VP Sara’s lawyers amped they’ll win impeach case

Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday expressed confidence in the lawyers handling her impeachment case.

“I can’t say what preparations the lawyers have made for the impeachment trial, but when I returned from The Hague we had a meeting,” Duterte told reporters in an interview in Danao City, Cebu.

“And they said they are more than confident of winning the impeachment case,” she said.

The Vice President refuted claims of some members of Congress that her endorsement of certain senatorial candidates, including reelectionist Sen. Imee Marcos, Las Piñas Rep. Camille Villar, and the 10 PDP-Laban senatorial bets, was intended to influence the impeachment trial.

“What triggered my public appearance was what they did to President Duterte. The injustice they committed against him. He was taken from the Philippines, forcibly boarded onto a plane without any documentation or permits and brought to The Hague where he was imprisoned by foreigners,” she said.

The VP said her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, asked her to campaign for the PDP-Laban senatorial candidates on his behalf.

“They saw, and I had even said, that I wouldn’t join this campaign. And I did just that. But after what happened to President Duterte, and when we spoke in The Hague, he told me, ‘I’m done, so can you help the senators?’ And I said yes, I can do that. I’d done it before in 2016, 2019, and 2022,” the Vice President said.

Aside from PDP-Laban senatorial candidates Jimmy Bondoc, Jayvee Hinlo, Raul Lambino, Dante Marcoleta, Vic Rodriguez, Philip Salvador, Dr. Marites Mata, Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, and incumbent senators Bato dela Rosa and Bong Go, Vice President Duterte is also endorsing Rep. Camille Villar and reelectionist Sen. Imee Marcos.

“I haven’t talked to President Duterte about any senatorial candidates outside of the Duter10,” the VP said.

“As for Camille Villar and Senator Imee Marcos, it’s not odd or awkward. Senator Imee knows me, we know each other. In fact, the first time we met was here in Cebu back in 2012. As for Camille, I’ve known her for quite a while. We’ve exchanged ideas about motherhood over the years,’” the Vice President said.

She, meanwhile, described her father’s arrest as an “extraordinary rendition” in international law.

“They took him, and as I’ve said, it was what’s called an extraordinary rendition in international law. They took the president, brought him to another country. That’s where we spoke, and he told me, ‘I’m done, I can’t campaign anymore. So can you campaign for the senatorial candidates?’”