House Speaker links Robredo to Duterte impeachment rap

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is not ruling out the possibility that the impeachment complaint filed against President Rodrigo Duterte is part of the plan to catapult Vice President Leni Robredo to power.

"Anything is possible kasi nga meron isang babae d'yan na nagmamadali na gustong pumalit sa ating Pangulo, pupuwede po na merong destabilization," Alvarez said in an interview over QRT on Thursday.

Asked if Robredo is the woman he was referring to: "Si Leni Robredo po."

Robredo, the constitutional successor of Duterte, has been at odds with the President over several issues including the government's heavy handed approach to the war on drugs, possible restoration of the death penalty and lowering the age of criminal liability.

She served as Duterte's housing chief for five months before parting ways with the administration last December after being barred by the President from attending Cabinet meetings.

Robredo's camp has yet to reply to requests for comment as of this writing.

The Vice President had previously said any impeachment attempt against Duterte would likely fail but she made the statement last September, three months before she left the administration.

"Sana walang impeachment na mangyayari, at tingin ko naman 'di iyon magpo-prosper. Pero, kapag dumaan na naman kasi tayo sa ganoon na proseso, lalong gugulo 'yung sitwasyon," she said.

Impeachment complaint

Duterte is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

The complaint was filed by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano at the House of Representatives, a body dominated by the allies of Duterte.

Malacañang described the impeachment move as a ‘dramatic’ part of a ‘larger scheme of things’ to destabilize the administration.

“However, having said that, it does seem like part of a larger scheme of things. Well, it just seems rather dramatic that everything seems to be so coordinated at this stage with acts of trying to... discredit the administration and trying to throw it in doubt,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said.

When asked if Robredo’s recent video message to the United Nations on drug war was also part of the “larger scheme of things,” Abella said it would be unlikely for the events to be just mere coincidence.

“It’s just seem too well-coordinated. Events like these are seem too well-coordinated just to be coincidence,” he added.

“Wala po akong sinasabi na hindi siya [Robredo’s video message] kasama, Sinasabi lang natin na mukhang may kaganapan na sabay-sabay na nangyayari… Pero mukhang napakalinis ng mga kaganapan,” he added.

On Wednesday, Robredo revealed the police's alleged abuses in urban poor areas in Metro Manila as part of the government's war on drugs in a video to the UN.

Alvarez had earlier downplayed the chances of impeachment, calling it "doomed to fail." He asked the public to continue supporting the President, whom he praised for putting the nation's interest above everything else. —Virgil Lopez/JST/NB, GMA News