In 2025, 215 members of the House of Representatives voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, more than enough to enable transmittal of the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for trial. Will the current impeachment attempt pass as easily?
Note that Congress voted on the 2025 impeachment complaint a few months before the midterm election. Many, if not most, of them were seeking re-election, which made them vulnerable to friendly persuasion, if not outright pressure.
In fact, the rumor then was that each “cooperative” House member got at least P50 million in campaign assistance. The rumor remains unconfirmed though but if it was true, one can easily imagine who had the resources to spread around.
It is, of course, possible that the rumored payoff was fake news and that the 215 ladies and gentlemen voted according to their conscience.
If so, what does their conscience tell them now? Are they still morally convinced that Duterte violated the Constitution and therefore has to go?
Under the Constitution, the approval of at least one third of the House membership is required to send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate. That’s roughly 106 votes.
Cracks have begun to show in the ranks of the original pro-impeachment bloc, the clearest indication being the announcement of the National Unity Party that they will support the impeachment only if the evidence is strong.
Although not exactly a rehash, the current impeachment complaint makes substantially the same allegations in the one that they supported in 2025. Why the demand for stronger evidence now?
How many have similarly changed or will change their minds? The Duterte camp hopes enough to derail the impeachment.
They should be told that they cannot achieve that by “threatening” the congressmen with certain defeat in 2028 if they support the impeachment as they did last year. An obscure group did just that recently here.
Reps. Eduardo Rama, Cynthia Chan, Lolypop Ouano-Dizon, Rhea Gullas, Edcel Galeos, Janice Salimbangon, Duke Frasco, Daphne Lagon and Peter John Calderon voted to impeach. Pablo John Garcia and Cutie Del Mar voted no.
Chan has been replaced by her husband, Ahong and Garcia by his wife, Karen while Salimbangon lost to Sun Shimura.
How will they respond to the “threat”? Am I seeing Ahong quivering in his tennis shoes or Ouano-Dizon and Gullas in their high heels?