Digong impeachment unlikely — Cebu officials

If the initial reactions of Cebuano legislators were to be an indication, the impeachment complaint slapped against President Rodrigo Duterte, on Thursday, may be headed for doom.

But its failure, at the onset, may just be a way to “test the waters” as to when exactly would it be ripe to file a strong case to oust the President.

An informal poll of Cebuano congressmen, conducted by Cebu Daily News, showed that the move of Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano to impeach Duterte is largely viewed as a game of numbers with Alejano at the losing end.

“First of all, an impeachment complaint is always a numbers game,” Cebu third district representative and house deputy speaker Gwendolyn Garcia told CDN.

Garcia does not think that the impeachment complaint will prosper as the House supermajority continues to be very supportive of Duterte.

“Kana man gung mga (You know those) allegations, it all depends on whether or not you have the numbers or you have the support of the Congressmen or the numbers needed for the complaint to pass through,” Garcia added.

“Even at the committee level, we need the numbers and only those who are members of the justice committee can vote on it on whether or not this should be forwarded to the plenary,” she said.

For his part, Rep. Benhur Salimbangon (fourth district) said that Alejano could not possibly muster the numbers needed to impeach Duterte.

“I don’t think impeachment is possible now. A vast majority of the members of the House belongs to the administration that supports President Duterte,” said Salimbangon.

“The President needs all the help that he can get. We should help him,” Salimbangon added, referring to Duterte’s controversial war against illegal drugs.

Congressman John Peter Calderon (seventh district) does not believe that the impeachment complaint will even pass the committee level and reach the plenary.

“Sa committee on justice ra mamatay na na didto (It will already die in the committee of justice),” Calderon said.

“Lahi man ng allegations ug pag-probar. Dili man ka mu-decide on the basis of allegations. There has to be evidence,” he added.

(There is a difference between allegations and proving. You can’t decide based on allegations. There has to be evidence.)

Meanwhile, Rep. Ramon Durano VI (fifth district) declined to comment on the impeachment complaint, except to say that this was now all up to the justice committee.

“It’s for the committee on justice to determine whether they find probable cause or not. For now, it’s premature to talk about it since the committee still has to decide on it,” Durano said.

In his impeachment complaint, Alejano charged Duterte of culpably violating the Constitution, engaging in bribery, betraying public trust, committing graft and corruption and other high crimes.

Cebu City north district Rep. Raul del Mar refused to comment on the complaints for now.

“It is premature for me to comment on the subject impeachment complaint as I have yet to read the same,” he told CDN in a phone interview on Thursday.

Del Mar pointed out that under the rules of the House of Representatives, an impeachment complaint against the President is first referred to the justice committee which will have to determine if the complaint is sufficient in form and in substance.

If found to be sufficient in both aspects, the justice committee will then submit a report about the complaint and present it to the plenary for approval by the other representatives.

Other reactions

At City Hall, Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña declared that he will not support any moves to oust Duterte.

“I am in favor of the fight of Duterte against drugs in spite of what people think of what it is,” Osmeña said.

Niño Olayvar, vice president of Anakbayan, meanwhile, said that while the militant group was unhappy with some of the President’s actions, they were not yet calling for his ouster unless extrajudicial killings and other human rights abuses in the country will continue to rise.

“For now, what we see on the impeachment complaint against him is political,” said Olayvar.

Sought for his personal take on the issue, Msgr. Esteban Binghay, a former episcopal vicar of the archdiocese, said any leader cannot please everybody.

“Leaders are prone to criticisms. Not all people are pros. There are also cons,” Binghay said.

Binghay said that it was impossible to remove Duterte from his post at this time.

“His popularity is just so high. He simply has the majority of those in Congress,” said Binghay as he believed that Alejano may have filed the impeachment complaint against the country’s top executive as a way of “testing the waters.”