A House opposition lawmaker said there has been no effort yet to gather signatures from at least one-third of lawmakers to fast-track an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.
House Deputy Minority Leader Antonio Tinio said he has not heard of any ongoing push in the chamber to secure the number of endorsements needed to immediately transmit the complaint to the Senate through the so-called “third mode.”
Tinio said this route remains one of the most effective ways for the impeachment process to move forward if enough lawmakers support it. Still, he noted that there has been no reported signature campaign among members of the House of Representatives to pursue that option.
At present, three impeachment complaints against Duterte have been forwarded to the office of House Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III. However, the cases have not yet been included in the chamber’s Order of Business and have not been referred to the House Committee on Justice.
The opposition lawmaker said it may also be beneficial for the complaints to go through the justice panel process. He said such proceedings would allow the public to revisit the allegations against Duterte and determine whether there are sufficient grounds for impeachment.
Among the accusations cited in the complaints are issues related to the alleged misuse of confidential funds. Tinio said a committee review could help present and examine these claims in detail.
Despite the current status of the complaints, Tinio expressed belief that a majority of lawmakers in the 20th Congress still support pursuing impeachment proceedings against the vice president.
