House justice panel chair: No double standard in impeachment case vs. VP Sara

House Committee on Justice chairperson Representative Gerville Luistro said that there is no double standard when it came to handling the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte and those against President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Luistro said the same standards were applied in both cases, but the allegations against the vice president were supported by evidence.

“Of course, there is a very big disparity between the impeachment against the President and the Vice President. Yung kay Presidente, hindi mo makita ang personal participation. As a matter of fact, no evidence that will establish ‘yung naging participation ng Presidente in the corruption,” she said in a radio interview. 

(In the President's case, you cannot see personal participation. As a matter of fact, [there is] no evidence that will establish what the President's participation was in the corruption.) 

“Because the corruption happened not in the approval of the budget, it happened in the implementation. So nasaan ang Presidente doon sa implementation [So where was the President in that implementation]? Of course, you cannot question his having approved the General Appropriations Act kasi kapangyarihan niya ‘yun [because that is his power],” Luistro added, noting that the House justice panel applied “exactly the same parameter.” 

Luistro also flagged Duterte's declaration that she had arranged to have Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated if she died. 

“If we will be talking about the personal participation, hindi pa ba sapat ‘yung video na ‘yan? It was she herself who was uttering those words in the video which was seen by the whole world,” she said

(Because the corruption happened not in the approval of the budget, it happened in the implementation. So where was the President in that implementation? Of course, you cannot question his having approved the General Appropriations Act because that is his power.) 

The House justice panel has scheduled the impeachment hearings on March 25, April 14, April 22, and April 29.

Duterte has been invited to attend the March 25 hearing regarding the impeachment complaints accusing her of alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds and using them as bribes; threatening to kill Marcos, including her desire to remove the head of the Chief Executive; and alleged accumulation of unexplained wealth. — BM, GMA Integrated News