Duterte admin will 'look like a bully' if Robredo impeached —LP solon

A House of Representatives leader on Tuesday said the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte will "look like a bully" if the lower chamber votes to impeach Vice President Leni Robredo based on the complaint endorsed by two Marcos loyalists to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez.

"Naniniwala ako na hindi makakabuti kahit sa administrasyong napakapopular. At the height of its popularity ay tatanggalin mo... [dahil sa] kahit kaunting kritisismo na ginawa...," House Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo said in an interview on News To Go.

"I think in the end it's not going to be good for the administration if it [Robredo impeachment] really takes place . It will really look like a bully," he added.

He said that the impeachment process, in the case of Robredo, should be not be treated as a game of numbers, but a "game of principle."

Quimbo, a fellow Liberal Party member of Robredo, said that the six-page complaint endorsed by Marcos loyalists Oliver Lozano and Melchor Chavez does not deserve the time of Congress because it does not have "an iota of evidence."

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said over the weekend that an impeachment complaint that will be filed against Robredo will likely prosper and reach the upper chamber for trial because of the strong support being enjoyed by Alvarez in the House of Representatives.

After the filing of an impeachment complaint against Duterte, Alvarez announced that he was studying the possibility of filing a similar complaint against Robredo. He had said that it could be based Robredo's video statement about the alleged "palit-ulo" scheme in the administration's war on drugs, which was played at a United Nations forum last week.

Pimentel said that Alvarez would only need to muster the support of at least 100 House members to push the impeachment of Robredo. He said the House speaker has at least a 230-strong support in the lower chamber.

Quimbo also said that he is hoping the allies of Duterte would be "more mature" to accept criticisms thrown at the administration.

He said that it seemed that there is a "game plan" to silence the critics of the Duterte administration by branding them as destabilizers.

"Ang game plan dito ay supilin, siguraduhin na nagsasalita ka pa lang ay 'di ka na makakaabot sa first base. Nobody argues against the argument, they argue against the person, throw accusations against the person. No single argument pertaining to the points being raise... and some issues are valid," Quimbo said.

He said that the allies of Duterte should realize that criticisms could be used by the administration to grow and improve. —ALG, GMA News