Vice President Sara Duterte said she is not considering stepping down from her post after the House of Representatives moved to impeach her, as she disclosed that her defense team is preparing for the impending Senate trial.
“Wala pa tayo doon, Ma’am. Masyado pang malayo ang ganyang mga bagay,” she said when asked about the matter in yesterday’s press briefing in Mandaluyong City.
Duterte said this after 215 lawmakers signed a fourth impeachment complaint reportedly containing six articles of impeachment for her ouster on Feb. 5.
The Vice President said she only had one comment about the development.
“God save the Philippines,” she said, because the country is supposedly left behind in terms of its people not having enough money for food, housing, electricity, water, and education.
She said her resignation was not on the table.
Duterte, however, believed that everything would be “all right,” as she told her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
“Nagpadala ako ng message through sa kanyang assistant… I think I said everything will be all right,” she said.
According to Duterte, they’ve started preparations for impeachment in 2023.
“We’ve already started preparing the moment France Castro announced the impeachment plans, which is November 2023,” she said.
“So November 2023 there were already lawyers doing their work for the impeachment so we leave it to the lawyers,” she added.
The Vice President also revealed that she was informed that the House of Representatives was going to impeach her on Feb. 5 but chose to not do anything about it.
“Que sera, sera (Whatever will be, will be),” she reportedly told her staff.
Meanwhile, she said she respected the Senate’s decision to postpone the matter until June 2025.
“That is their prerogative as a body. We have to respect the Senate kung ano yung desisyon nila (on their decision),” Duterte said, adding that she has not talked to her friends in the Senate.
The Vice President, however, said she would not appear in the trial.
“Kung pwede namang hindi, and I understand pwede naman, hindi na,” she said.
“Kasi baka ma-intimidate lang silang lahat sa presence ko,” she added.
DEFENSE TEAM
Vice President Duterte did not disclose the members of her defense team but she said she would let them announce if they wanted to.
She said former President Duterte was welcome to join but would discourage him from leading the team due to his old age.
“He is welcome. He is a lawyer so he is welcome to give his advice, and input in the defense,” the Vice President said.
“Because of his age and because of rigorous preparations in an impeachment case, baka sabihin ko sa kanya na ‘wag na lang siyang mag-lead. He’s already 80 years old this year,” she added.
Vice President Duterte said her lawyers have already read the complaints filed against her, including her supposed assassination threat to President Marcos that she denied making.
“I did not make an assassination threat to the President. Sila lang nagsasabi niyan,” she said.
“Sila lang nagsasabi may assassination, sila nagsasasabi may assassin, may gunman,” she added. (Argyll Geducos)
