Former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV can’t help but be proud of the Magdalo Party for standing up against President Duterte and his controversial policies.
Trillanes, a staunch critic of Duterte, reminded the public it was only his group that filed an impeachment complaint against the President almost a year after he assumed office in 2016.
He is the chair of the Magdalo Party who is running as an opposition senatorial candidate under Vice President Leni Robredo in the 2022 polls.
“Ang Magdalo Party-list lang ang tanging nag-file ng Impeachment complaint kay Duterte,” Trillanes said in a Facebook post on Tuesday, November 2.
“Kung naghahanap ka ng boses para sa mga naaapi at para sa tamang pamamahala, ito na 'yun (If you’re looking for a voice for the oppressed and right leadership, this is it),” he added.
Magdalo Party is among the 270 partylist groups running in next year’s elections. It has three nominees vying for a slot for partylist representatives in the upcoming 19th Congress.
In March 2017, it was former Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano who filed the impeachment complaint against Duterte for culpably violating the Constitution, engaging in bribery, committing graft and corruption, and other crimes.
The complaint cited Duterte’s alleged involvement in the creation of the Davao Death Squad, his bloody drug war, his supposed unexplained wealth, and the President’s alleged inaction to uphold the country’s sovereignty over the West Philippine Sea.
But two months later, the House of Representatives dismissed the complaint, with a vote of 217-4-0 for insufficiency of substance.
Alejano and Trillanes also filed a supplemental communication before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague in 2017, citing that the “State is unwilling to even investigate the extrajudicial killings in the country and because of the President’s immunity, unable to prosecute President Duterte.”
They cited the junking of the House of the impeachment complaint filed by Alejano against Duterte.
The ICC has since opened investigation into the President’s bloody war on drugs campaign, which killed about 8,600 people, official figures showed.