Marcos on junking of impeachment raps: ‘Happy it’s done’

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. expressed relief Friday that the impeachment complaints filed against him were junked while he declined to comment on the impeachment raps against Vice President Sara Duterte.

In an ambush interview, Marcos said the dismissal of the complaints against him would allow the administration to focus fully on its work.

“Not really. I mean, House is doing their job. I’m glad that of course I’m glad that now the impeachment complaints against me are finished,” he said.

“And as (said) in the statement earlier, I’m happy it’s done because we can get on with our work because these things are distractions from the things we were doing," he added. 

Marcos noted that he was not concerned by the impeachment attempts, maintaining that they lacked legal basis and were politically driven.

“Although I wasn’t very worried because I saw the impeachment complaint and I knew that I would be alright in terms of the impeachment kasi wala naman, there were no real grounds for the impeachment. It was a political move. As usual,” he said.

Asked about the impeachment complaint filed against Vice President Duterte, Marcos said he had no reaction and left the matter to the House of Representatives.

“Now… I have no reaction. Hindi ko trabaho ’yan… trabaho ’yan ng House (That’s not my job—that’s the job of the House)," he said. 

“Pabayaan mo silang magtrabaho (Let them do their work) and I’m sure they will handle it properly so just let them do their jobs," he added. 

On Wednesday, after the House justice committee junked the impeachment complaints against the President being insufficient in substance, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said Malacañang was grateful that lawmakers were able to see that the two complaints had no merit.

The vote for the dismissal of the first impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus tallied 42 yes, one no, and three abstentions.

On the other hand, the second impeachment complaint filed by the Makabayan coalition, on the other hand, was junked after the motion declaring it sufficient in substance was defeated via a seven yes, 39 no, and zero abstentions.

On February 9, the House justice committee will submit its report on the impeachment complaints against Marcos to the plenary. 

Members of the House of Representatives will vote whether they agree with it or not. A vote of at least 1/3 of all members of the House is enough to reverse the report. —AOL, GMA Integrated News