NUP chair: No party stand yet on VP Sara impeachment

National Unity Party (NUP) Chairman and House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno on Thursday clarified that the NUP has no party stand yet on the new impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Puno made the clarification after the NUP, in a statement that bore its logo and released Wednesday night, said the party “will most likely not vote in favor” of the impeachment of Duterte, unless there is new evidence presented.

“No, this is not the party stand. This is just the consensus of the ones that I have talked to,” Puno said in an interview.

“We will have another formal meeting. [But] I doubt that there will be a party stand here because there is just too much division among our members,” he added.

There are four impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Duterte referred to the House committee on justice mainly alleging that the Vice President betrayed public trust, committed culpable violation of the constitution, graft and corruption, among others, mainly over the alleged misuse of P612.5 million of confidential funds and using them as bribes, and the Vice President's apparent threat to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. in an expletive-filled video.

The House justice panel will begin deliberations on the impeachment complaints against the Vice President on March 2.

Puno said the NUP members will vote based on conscience.

“The direction now is that we will probably have a conscience vote. Everybody will be allowed to vote the way he or she wants to vote,” he said.

In addition, he said there is no clear party stand at this point. “We are very divided right now. So we ended up with let's see what the evidence will show.”

No connection with Sara 2028 announcement

Puno also said if there are no new evidence against Duterte, the Justice committee can save time by just receiving the records from the Quad Committee of the previous Congress.

"Well, for one, if the charges are going to consist only of those that were already covered by the QuadComm, then we shouldn't really redo the whole thing. Maybe just turn over the records of Quadcom to the Justice Committee so that they can use that and not waste time rehearing everything. Second, I don't know that there are new charges because I think that most of the charges that have been filed and have been referred to the Justice Committee now have already also been filed previously," he stated.

One evidence that Puno says he wants to see is if the vice president personally gained from the use of confidential funds.

"The real question about the confidential funds is were the funds used for personal use. Binulsa ba? [Were they pocketed?] And if you review the QuadComm, I don't think they got there. I don't think they were able to get to a point where they proved that the funds were used for personal use," he said.

Puno also denied that the NUP statement was connected to Duterte's announcement that she will run for president in 2028.

"Wala. Absolutely not. Wala naman connection yun eh. Alam naman ng lahat, tatakbo na siya eh. So alam naman ng lahat, nasa majority kami ng Congress. [There's no connection. Everybody already knew she was going to run, and we are the majority in the Congress.] So we're not on the same side," Puno said.

Substance of complaints to be discussed

In a separate interview, Justice Committee Chair Gerville Luistro was asked about the NUP's Wednesday night statement. "Well, we, of course, respect the NUP, no? At marami tayong mga kaibigan [We have many friends] from NUP," she said.

"Nevertheless, I wish to remind the people na itong mga [that these] offenses or charge in the impeachment complaints contained in these four impeachment complaints ay hindi naman po napag-usapan [have not yet been discussed] in substance. Meaning, it was not substantially heard during the first impeachment complaint considering that there was a petition before the Supreme Court which relied solely on issues of technicality."

Luistro said the committee will follow the process "regardless of the amount of support that we get or we see from the House members or from the party leadership. That is beside the point. Kasi whether we like it or not, we have a duty that we really have to face."

Luistro, who was elected impeachment prosecutor in the first impeachment proceedings against Duterte, said the challenge now is for the endorsers of the current impeachment complaints against the vice president to present strong evidence.

"Definitely. Kung sa ganito kaaga, merong mga [If even at this early stage, there are] national parties who are already manifesting their position similar to that of the NUP, I think the endorsers should be more challenged this time to be able to present strong evidence and initially, compliance with the standards required in the Justice Committee for us to be able to move forward. That is the standard as to form and as to substance," she stated.

"I am positive that whatever will happen in the Justice Committee will bring a lot of change with regards to the judgment and position of the House members and even the Filipino people with respect to this impeachment complaints," Luistro added.

Defensor: Sara committed impeachable acts

In a separate interview, NUP member and Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo Representative Lorenz Defensor said that he was not consulted about the Wednesday statement, which was signed by NUP Secretary General Reginald Velasco.

“No [I was not consulted about the statement]. I'm just happy that for as long as I have been a member of the NUP, they have respected my independence when it comes to national issues,” he said.

He added that he believes that, "as in any other case, while we are united in many issues together, I am confident that the party will respect the individual stand of its members when it comes to impeachments."

"I have not received explicit instructions from party leadership whether or not we support the impeachment. All I understand is that we will listen to the evidence during the impeachment hearings and we will decide like every congressman should decide based on his own assessment and personal conscience whether he will vote yes or not to the impeachment complaints," he said.

Defensor was in charge of the first article in the previous impeachment of the Vice President which focused on her declaration that she had contracted someone to kill Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez if she is killed.

"For as long as the allegation that the vice president has contracted an assassin to kill the president, there will always be betrayal of public trust and betrayal of public trust is an impeachable offense under the 1987 Constitution," he said.

Defensor said he remains convinced that the Vice President should be impeached over her statement.

"The evidence last time, matatag yon and saying na may kinausap ka, tao, handang pumatay sa Presidente. Kahit anong taon, it will always be an impeachable offense. Kung may bagong ebidensyang maihahain ang mga complainants at mga endorsers nitong bagong apat na impeachment complaints, it will only strengthen the evidence against the respondent, against the vice president. So tingnan natin kung meron na," he said.

(The evidence last time was strong, and saying that you spoke to someone who would be ready to assassinate the President—whatever the year, it will always be an impeachable offense. And if there is any new evidence that the complainants and the endorsements of these new impeachment complaints can offer, it will only strengthen the evidence against the respondent, against the vice president. So let's see if there is.)

“I share their sentiment na dapat may matatag na ebidensiya [ang impeachment ni Vice President Duterte]. Sa palagay ko, pag nagsimula impeachment hearings, mailalabas na mga complainants at mga endorsers ang ebidensiyang naging basehan nitong apat na impeachment complaints,” he also said.

(Yes, I agree that there should be solid evidence against the Vice President and I would say that once the impeachment hearings starts, I am confident that the complainants and the endorsers will be able to present the basis of the impeachment complaints.) — BM, GMA Integrated News