‘Expected’ impeachment will only boost support for VP Duterte — Panelo

Former presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo believes that the recent move of the House of Representatives to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte will only rally more support for her.

In a statement, Panelo said the impeachment was “expected.”

“Having the numbers, railroading the process is a foregone conclusion,” he said on Wednesday, Feb. 5.

Panelo reiterated that the impeachment only aimed to destroy the reputation of the Vice President ahead of the 2028 national elections where she is the leading contender.

However, the former Palace spokesman believes that the impeachment will backfire.

“These lawmakers obviously have not heeded the overwhelming voice of the people opposing the impeachment of the vice president, nor have they respected the wish of PBBM (President Marcos) to foregone such a divisive and non-productive political endeavor that does not benefit a single Filipino,” he said.

“Their move will only galvanize the support of the Filipino people on VP Sara, and will fan the flames of disgust and rage against their willful and brazen violation of the guarantees enshrined in the Constitution,” he added.

The House of Representatives—dominated by Marcos allies—impeached Duterte during a plenary session on Wednesday, the final session day before the mid-term elections.

Two hundred and fifteen lawmakers signed a fourth impeachment complaint reportedly containing six articles of impeachment for Vice President Duterte’s ouster.

Only 102 signatures or one-third of the current 306 sitting congressmen were needed to effect the direct submission of the complaint from the House to the Senate.

This week, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin reiterated that the Vice President’s impeachment was the sole prerogative of Congress.

Calls to impeach the Vice President rose following her public declaration that she had contracted someone to “kill” President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez should an assassination attempt against her succeed.

While President Marcos hit the Vice President for her remarks, he said he did not want Congress to pursue impeachment complaints against the Vice President as it would just be a waste of time. He said Duterte was “unimportant” and trying to impeach her would just distract the government from serving Filipinos.