Former lawmaker and University of the Philippines law professor Barry Gutierrez believes that the transfer of P125 million in confidential funds to Vice President Sara Duterte can be grounds for her impeachment.
(From left) Vice President Sara Duterte and UP law professor Barry Gutierrez (OVP photos)
Gutierrez said during a “Facts First” interview that almost any issue can be a ground for an impeachment if political elements will frame it as such.
“Ngayon kung itatanong mo kung pwede bang gamiting basis ‘yun para sa isang impeachment, eh kahit ano naman pwedeng gamiting basis para sa impeachment. (Now, if you are going to ask if that can be used as a basis for impeachment, all can be used as basis for impeachment),” he explained.
“Kung pipiliin nilang i-frame ‘yun dahil merong nalabag na probisyon dito eh pwedeng tumayo yun as a basis at sa dulo ang makakapagsabi lang kung sapat ang basis na ‘yun ay one-third ng members ng House of Representative ("If they will choose to frame that because there’s a violation of provision here, it can stand as a basis and in the end, the only ones who can say if the basis is enough is one-third of the members of the House of Representatives.”)
Gutierrez, former spokesman of ex-vice president Leni Robredo, was one of the petitioners in the case for certiorari filed before the Supreme Court seeking to declare the transfer of P125 million by the Office of the President (OP) to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in December 2022 as unconstitutional.
Among the other petitioners were former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Augusto Lagman, constitution framer Christian Monsod, former Department of Finance (DOF) undersecretary Maria Cielo Magno, chairperson of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) Imelda Nicolas, Katrina Monsod, Ray Paolo Santiago, Honorio Poblador III, Vicente Romano III, Rex Drilon, and Miguel Jugo.
The former Akbayan lawmaker said that their argument in the petition was the violation of a constitutional provision that grants the power of the purse exclusively to Congress, as well as the provision that governs the transfers of appropriations between offices.
“So sa tingin namin may paglabag pero sa dulo syempre Korte Suprema lang ang nakakapagsabi na merong paglabag (So we believe there is a violation but in the end, of course, only the Supreme Court can say if there was a violation),” he stressed.
Gutierrez admitted that an impeachment process is both legal and political since the decision in an impeachment goes down to both legal substantiation and political will.
"Political siya in the sense na sa dulo ang magde-determine kung tutuloy o hindi ang isang impeachment ay boto, numero both sa House of Representatives at sa Senate (It is political in the sense that in the end, the vote numbers in both the House of Representatives and the Senate will determine if an impeachment will push through or not),” he added.
In December 2022, Duterte’s office received P125 million in confidential funds from the OP. This was spent in merely 11 days, with the Vice President failing to explain publicly where the funds were spent.
The scrutiny into these funds became the basis of Congress eventually scrapping the official’s proposed P650-million confidential funds for 2024, a step that angered former president Rodrigo Duterte.
The former chief executive, in defense of his daughter, assailed members of the House of Representatives, particularly House Speaker Martin Romualdez, President Marcos’ first cousin.
In response, top leaders of various political parties rebuffed the former president’s tirades and expressed their support for Romualdez, showing deepening cracks into the UniTeam tandem of Marcos and Duterte.
Talks of an impeachment case against the Vice President were also making rounds in the House of Representatives as the elder Duterte warned that impeaching his daughter would force him out of retirement to run for the Senate in 2025 or as vice president in 2028.