Sen. Robin Padilla Speaks on Impeachment Process vs. VP Sara Duterte
ROBIN PADILLA – The Senator chided the impeachment process against Vice President Sara Duterte amid the struggles due to the war in Iran.
It is no secret to the Filipino people that there are Filipino senators who are loyal allies of the Duterte clan. In the Senate, there is even the so-called Duterte bloc which includes at least two (2) senators who recently reaffirmed their loyalty to former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
Two (2) senators who have gone number one in the election results, senators Bong Go and Robin Padilla, are loyal allies of the former President. The latter even declared the former Chief Executive a hero amid his detention under the custody of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Sen. Robin Padilla believes that the Philippines was allegedly the “safest country” during the Duterte administration. He is also against the impeachment of the former President’s daughter, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte.
Out of the four (4) impeachment raps filed against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte before the Office of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives, two (2) were found by the House Justice Committee as sufficient in grounds. One of the complaints got the following grounds against the Vice President:
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount over PHP 500 million confidential funds (CF) allocated to the Office of the Vice President from 2022 to 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount of not less than PHP 112.5 million of confidential funds allocated to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the year 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust by corrupting and bribing officials of the DepEd
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in contracting to murder or assassinate the president, the first lady, and the former speaker of the House
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose all her properties and interests in properties in her SALN
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in committing acts of  political destabilization and the high crimes of sedition and insurrection
The House Justice panel recently held the first hearing regarding the impeachment complaints filed against Duterte. The committee invited both the Vice President and the complainants.
However, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte skipped the March 25 impeachment hearing held by the House Justice panel. Her camp is challenging the constitutionality of the legal proceedings as per the spokesman of her legal team, Atty. Michael Poa.
Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s lawyer claimed that he is ready to appear before the House Justice Committee and he will just wait for the subpoena of the panel to check it. The committee has voted to subpoena Poa who is a former spokesman of the Department of Education during the stint of Duterte as the DepEd secretary.
Recently, Sen. Robin Padilla reacted to the ongoing legal proceedings of the impeachment complaints against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. The actor-turned-Senator slammed the presence of the process amid the struggles of the Filipinos brought by the rising oil costs.
“May impeachment pa rin pala sa gitna ng kinakaharap ng mga Pilipino. God help us,” Padilla said.
The soaring pump prices is brought by the Middle East war. Based on a report on GMA News, the foreign minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, said they do not intend to negotiate with the United States. Iran previously claimed that they were talking with the Americans when U.S. attacked them.
Recently, Iran also denied the claim of U.S. Pres. Donald Trump that a “Peace Plan” is allegedly underway. The American President also claimed that Iran supposedly agreed not to have nuclear power.