MALACAÑANG on Thursday, September 13, challenged Senator Antonio Trillanes IV to file an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte.
The senator, whose amnesty was declared void by Duterte, on Wednesday, September 12, said the President might have committed two impeachable offenses when he encouraged the military to stage a mutiny and received an intelligence information from a foreign country.
Roque played down Trillanes's remarks as a a mere "drama and political mileage."
"Let him (Trillanes) file another impeachment complaint. Wala naman ding mangyayari diyan kasi wala naman din talagang saysay (It will not prosper because it's baseless). It's all about drama and political mileage," the Palace official said.
In a televised têtê-a-têtê with Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Tuesday, September 11, Duterte said he would soon divulge the evidence of the supposed connivance of the communists, opposition Liberal Party, and Magdalo group to unseat him.
Duterte also dared those in the military who believe in Trillanes to join the senator and stage a mutiny.
Impeachable offenses cited in the 1987 Constitution include culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft, corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of pulic trust.
Trillanes's ally, Magdalo Representative Gary Alejano, filed last year an impeachment complaint against Duterte, in connection with the alleged state-sanctioned killings in the government's brutal crackdown on illegal drugs.
The House of Representatives, however, dismissed the impeachment case against Duterte for lack of substance.
Duterte is covered by a one-year bar against another impeachment complaint provided under the Constitution, since the previous petition lodged against him was dismissed. (SunStar Philippines)