Luistro: House 'ready' for plenary vote on VP Sara impeachment by May 11

The House of Representatives will be ready to vote on the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte by May 11, House justice committee chairperson and Batangas Second District Rep. Gerville Luistro said.

Luistro made the announcement ahead of the expected scheduling of the impeachment vote in a plenary session this week.

“Actually, May 11 is just my recommendation…I considered the date when the plenary will be able to transmit the committee report, the Resolution and the Articles of Impeachment to all the House members, including the complainant and the respondent Vice President as provided under the Supreme Court decision on Duterte v. House of Representatives,” Luistro said in an interview on Balitanghali.

“Assuming that today the plenary will be able to transmit these copies to the House members, we have Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday within which the House Members should be able to read and study the articles of impeachment. Having said that, on May 11, that is a Monday, we should be ready to do the plenary vote,” Luistro added.

The Articles of Impeachment approved by the House justice committee for plenary vote accuses the Vice President of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, corruption and other high crimes over the following acts:

• misuse/abuse of confidential funds
• unexplained wealth
• bribery and
• plot to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and former Speaker and Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez

At least one third of the House members, or 106 of them, should vote in favor of the Articles of Impeachment for the House to be able to send the impeachment case against the Vice President to the Senate for trial.

Confident

Luistro expressed no doubts that the House plenary vote will easily breach that number, considering what was revealed during the four impeachment hearings that led the 53 members of the House justice panel to unanimously find probable cause to impeach the Vice President.

”I am positive that the plenary will approve the committee report. I do not want to preempt what number will be able to get during the plenary vote, but because of the numbers that was yielded in the determination of probable cause as well as the approval of committee report, I think these are sufficient basis for as to believe that it will be approved as well in the plenary,” Luistro added.

Likewise, Luistro denied that the House justice panel was pressured to vote in favor of the impeachment of the Vice President.

“We vehemently deny that,” Luistro said.

The committee report will still be scheduled for a plenary vote by the House committee on rules.

Withdrawal of support?

Luistro also denied reports that several members of the committee are withdrawing their support for the committee report on the impeachment complaints against Duterte.

"I don't know any cong. who is withdrawing his vote or signature from the determination of probable cause and even from our approval of committee report yesterday. So from my end, I deny that allegation that there are congs who are withdrawing their signatures," Luistro said in an online interview.

House Deputy Minority Leader Rep. Antonio Tinio, who voted for probable cause and for the approval of the committee report as well as the resolution setting forth the Articles of Impeachment, labelled the report as "fake news."

"Well, after pa lang noong voting, saka pa lang nagsimulang magpapirma. In fact, ngayong umaga lang ako nakapirma dahil ngayon lang ako napuntahan noong committee secretariat. So, parang fake news yata yung lumabas na yon. Even before the voting, narinig ko na yan eh. So mukhang fake news lang yon, nang iintriga," Tinio told reporters in an ambush interview today.

(Well, it was only after the voting that I started getting signatures. In fact, I only signed this morning because I just went to the committee secretariat. So it seems like fake news that it came out. Even before the voting, I heard that. So it seems like fake news, just for intrigue.)

House Committee on Justice Vice Chair Rep. Jose Alvarez also denied reports he was among those who withdrew his signature.

"Wala naman akong pinapabawi doon sa committee report. Bumoto lang ako. Taas lang ako ng kamay kasi yung proceeding lang yon para dalhin sa plenary," Alvarez said.

(I'm not asking for anything back from the committee report. I just voted. I just raised my hand because that's just the proceeding to be brought to the plenary.)

After at least one-third of all the House members vote in favor of the impeachment of the Vice President, the House will elect 11 of its members to serve as public prosecutors for the Vice President's impeachment trial.

The House public prosecutors can also enlist the help of the private prosecutors for the looming impeachment trial of the Vice President. —with reports from Tina Panganiban-Perez/ VAL, GMA News