SPEAKER Ferdinand Martin Romualdez yesterday said he is not aware of any plan to move for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
“We have nothing like that in the radar, so we would have to look at whatever comes before us. But I’ve not heard,” Romualdez said in an interview in Malacañang.
Several members of the House of Representatives have dismissed talks about moves to oust the Vice President. Earlier this month, the Makabayan bloc at the House denied it has held meetings with Romualdez to talk about Duterte’s impeachment.
The supposed impending impeachment move was revealed by Duterte last month, saying the information came from her allies at the House. She has refused to name them but said impeachment talks have been going on for months. She also said a House member lawmaker linked it to the use of the Office of the Vice President’s P125-million confidential funds in 2022.
Reports said the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) is preparing an impeachment complaint and may file it with the House, if finalized, in November when sessions resume.
Bayan secretary general Mong Palatino has said an impeachment complaint against Duterte is necessary to make her accountable for alleged misuse of funds.
Duterte has refused to answer questions on the use of the OVP’s confidential funds during budget deliberations.
The House on Wednesday night approved on final reading Malacañang’s proposed P6.352-trillion national budget for 2025, after the lawmakers were forced to terminate plenary deliberations on the OVP’s P2.037 billion-budget request because of Duterte’s absence in the proceedings.
Duterte’s absence, according to the OVP budget sponsor, Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, put the House in a “very unique circumstance” as no one from the OVP was present to help him defend the budget proposal.
The House appropriations panel earlier slashed the OVP’s proposed budget by a whopping 63.8 percent, approving only P733.198 million after Duterte refused to answer lawmakers questions on how her office spent its P2.3-billion budget in 2023.
The plenary adopted the committee’s recommendation after Romualdez appealed to colleagues not to further cut the OVP’s budget, amid proposal by some lawmakers to give the OVP a zero budget.
Duterte stopped attending the budget hearings and the subsequent plenary deliberations after she refused to answer questions on her office’s use of P73 million in confidential funds which was part of the OVP’s 2022 budget.
Lawmakers have expressed belief there is a “broader pattern of seeming misuse or mismanagement of government funds.”
Duterte has told Adiong the House can do whatever they want with the OVP’s budget proposal.
