LP solons will not support impeachment raps vs. Duterte — Quimbo

About half of the Liberal Party's contingent in the House of Representatives have "categorically" decided not to support the impeachment complaints filed against President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo.

This is according to Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo, the highest ranking House member in the party.

Quimbo confirmed that about 15 party members who belong to the House supermajority met with Robredo on Thursday. Twenty-seven of the 32 LP members in the lower chamber are members of the said coalition, led by Duterte allies Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas.

Impeachment raps against the President and the Vice President were discussed, along with administrative matters, he added.

Members present said they will not support efforts to impeach either Duterte or Robredo.

"We came to a common consensus on the following matters: we strongly believe that the taking up by the HOR of any impeachment complaint today will only be divisive as well as polarizing. It will only serve to distract us from the many important matters that congress should be giving priority to," Quimbo said in a statement on Thursday.

"For these very imperative reasons, the LP House majority caucus members present categorically took a position that we will not support any of the impeachment complaints filed against the leaders of the land," he added.

Quimbo also said the LP House members present "reiterated (their) commitment of support" to Robredo, who sits as the party's interim chair.

This is in keeping with the deputy speaker's earlier pronouncement that both impeachment complaints are "doomed to fail."

Quimbo said in March that the rap against Duterte was "ill-timed," noting that he is a popular president.

Robredo also confirmed the said meeting.

She noted that congressmen present voiced out support for her, but such has yet to be a formal agreement because at least a dozen of LP members in the supermajority missed Thursday’s meeting.

“Ang sinabi nila na nag-agree sila, na parang they will protect me. Pero walang kasunduan yata na kahit ano,” she said.

She added that an agreement on the matter may be made when they meet again before or on the first day that Congress resumes its session.

The impeachment complaint against the President was filed by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano in March for culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

Among instances he cited in his complaint were killings carried out by the infamous Davao Death Squad (DDS) when Duterte was still Davao City mayor, and the spate of extrajudicial killings since he became president.

Alejano's filing came a day after the release of Robredo's video message for a side session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting, where she raised irregularities in the administration's anti-drug campaign, notably the so-called "palit ulo" scheme.

In seeming response, two former senatorial aspirants, known supporters of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, submitted an impeachment rap against Robredo.

Another group of lawyers and vocal critics of the Vice President on social media said they are also building up a separate complaint.

Impeachment raps filed by private citizens need to be endorsed by a member of the House of Representatives. — RSJ/KG, GMA News