Robredo unfazed by impeachment threat over UNHRC-probe support

Vice President Leni Robredo's office on Saturday said that impeachment threats against Robredo over her support of a United Nations Human Rights Council probe on the government's war on drugs was “nothing new.”

“VP Leni has been threatened with impeachment before. This is nothing new or original,” Robredo’s spokesperson Atty. Barry Gutierrez told GMA News Online.

“She has faced threats of impeachment, an electoral protest, online harassment, and fake news ever since she assumed office. She has never let any of these distract her from her focus on helping uplift the lives of her fellow Filipinos, particularly the poor, or prevent her from fulfilling the oath she took.”

Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission chief Manuelito Luna claimed that Robredo’s support of the UNHRC’s resolution “against” the Philippine government was cause for her to be impeached, adding that her suggestion that the the administration could be guilty of human rights abuses was tantamount to a betrayal of public trust.

“If someone once again wants to make headlines by floating yet another impeachment threat, let them. We've lived through worse, and we won't lose sleep over it. Yung walang ginawang mali walang kailangang ikatakot,” Gutierrez said.

Robredo had urged the government to welcome the UN's inquiry into the human rights situation in the country, especially if the administration had nothing to hide.

The vice president had also said that it was "shameful" that other countries had to call for an investigation into the Duterte administration's war on drugs.

Earlier in the week, the UNHRC voted for a probe into thousands of killings in President Rodrigo Duterte's so-called "war on drugs" — a step that activists said was long overdue.

A resolution, led by Iceland, was adopted at the forum in Geneva, with 18 countries voting in favor and 14, including China, against, with 15 abstentions, including Japan. — DVM, GMA News