SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday asserted the independence of the House of Representatives in deciding the fate of the separate impeachment complaints against President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo.
Alvarez said while he respects the President’s call to stop impeachment moves against Robredo, the House is bound by its constitutional duty to process the complaints independently from the executive.
“To me, that was just a statement of the President. But of course we all know the President cannot order Congress around,” Alvarez said in a radio interview.
He added that the separation of powers among the three main branches of the government as well as their respective duties are clearly specified in the Constitution.
“As I said, Congress will not be a rubber stamp of the administration,” Alvarez said.
While many see impeachment as a political exercise, Alvarez said the House will make sure that the complaints comply with the legal requirements.
“If there are more impeachment complaints filed, we will study them thoroughly, process them simultaneously,” Alvarez said.
If they found any of the impeachment complaints sufficient in form and in substance, they will make sure they can successfully prosecute the concerned official in the impeachment trial in the Senate, he added.
Since the Senate has the sole power to try and decide any impeachment case, it would be entirely up to the senators to convict or exonerate the impeached official, he said.
Robredo on Friday said any impeachment move against her would be a waste of time.
“I think the impeachment whether against the President or me would just disrupt the attention of those in Congress,” she said.
“There are too many work to attend to,” she added, saying the distraction and the divisiveness would not be good for the country.
Robredo also said that her dissenting opinion on the President’s drug war was not an attempt to destabilize his government or that she wanted to grab power.
A group of lawyers on Thursday threatened to file a second impeachment complaint against her once Congress resumes its session in May.
Oliver Lozano, a former Marcos lawyer, along with another complainant, Melchor Chavez, filed the first impeachment complaint against Robredo before the House of Representatives for violation of the 1987 Constitution and betrayal of public trust.
The complaint stemmed from Robredo’s video message for a United Nations meeting on illegal drugs.
Duterte told his allies and those seeking to impeach Robredo to “stop it,” and said he would not allow any attempt to impeach her.
Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano filed the first impeachment rap against the President.
