1 month ago
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Delon Porcalla - The Philippine Star
February 17, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The 32 million votes that Vice President Sara Duterte obtained in the May 2022 elections – a million more than President Marcos’ – carry more weight than the votes for her impeachment by members of the House of Representatives, senatorial candidate and lawyer Raul Lambino said over the weekend.
“The record-high 32 million who voted for VP Sara cannot just be set aside by the decision of 215 congressmen who voted to impeach her,” said Lambino, who served as Cagayan Economic Zone Authority administrator during the Duterte administration.
“I’m not in favor of any kind of impeachment. We know very well that impeachment proceedings are very divisive for the country,” he said, reminding the Senate that VP Duterte cannot undergo impeachment trial in the next 20th Congress (2025-2028), or beyond June 30 this year.
“They (senators) simply have no time when they resume sessions on June 2. All matters not taken up will be terminated and shall start again in the next Congress (July 1). It’s automatically terminated. Unlike in the US, the (Philippine) Senate is not a continuing body,” Lambino pointed out.
“The Senate as an institution shall become functus officio (expired mandate), based on the unfinished business rule. As far as I’m concerned, they can file again a new impeachment complaint on Feb. 5 (2026) because it has been initiated already. It has to be re-filed anew,” he said.
He stressed that Marcos can call for a special session “only for legislative matters.” And while the Senate “can convene itself into an impeachment court,” Lambino said it would no longer be able to complete its task due to lack of time.
Partido Pederal ng Maharlika (PPM) president Silvestre Bello III said the organization, through its candidates, will help the Vice President.
Lambino is one of the 10 Duterte-allied candidates of the PPM, which also has five adopted candidates from Marcos’ Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas.
Of the 10 Duterte loyalists, six are lawyers – Lambino, outgoing Sagip party-list congressman Rodante Marcoleta, Jayvee Hinlo, Vic Rodriguez, singer Jimmy Bondoc and lawyer-doctor Joey Montemayor. The others are re-electionist Senators Bong Go and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, actor Philip Salvador and detained pastor Apollo Quiboloy.
The five adopted candidates from the administration slate are reelectionist Senators Imee Marcos and Francis Tolentino and returning senators Vicente Sotto III, Panfilo Lacson and Gringo Honasan.
Impeachment trial favored
Meanwhile, results of a “mobile-based” survey of 2,400 respondents by pollster Tangere showed Filipinos are likely to vote into office senatorial candidates who want impeached Vice President Sara Duterte to undergo trial while a miniscule number would “not vote for pro-impeachment” candidates.
In its Feb. 10-12 survey, Tangere reported that around four or five of every 10 registered voters in the country said they would vote for those “in favor” of Duterte’s trial, while only one out of four indicated otherwise.
The “non-commissioned survey” has plus or minus 1.96 percent margin of error at 95 percent confidence level.
“The proportion was spread throughout the Philippines with 12 percent from NCR, 23 percent from Northern Luzon, 22 percent from Southern Luzon, 20 percent from Visayas, and 23 percent from Mindanao,” Tangere stated.
In the same survey, 53 percent also wanted the Vice President tried for her alleged “misuse” of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President desk and the Department of Education which she led from mid-2022 until July 2024, while 30 percent of respondents were opposed to such.
Fifty one percent of respondents preferred that the Vice President undergo impeachment trial for “unexplained wealth and inaccurate declaration of properties” in her SALN, while 33 percent disagreed.
At the same time, 73 percent of Filipinos agreed that Duterte should face the Senate impeachment trial over allegations of plotting to assassinate Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez.
A majority of the respondents who agreed were from Luzon – NCR, Southern Luzon, Central Luzon, and Northern Luzon. Twelve percent of the respondents were undecided, while 15 percent disagreed.
In general, 51 percent of Filipinos agreed with the impeachment, 22 percent were “undecided” while 27 percent disagreed. Those who agreed were mainly from Luzon while those who disagreed were from Davao and northern Mindanao. A majority of the undecided were from the Visayas regions.
