Vice President Sara Duterte (left), President Marcos (MANILA BULLETIN)

The House of Representatives is expected to consider the advice of President Marcos to “not waste time” in pursuing an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte amid the first-ever filing of such raps against the country’s second top official, lawmakers said on Monday, Dec. 2.

Mere hours before advocacy groups filed the historic impeachment complaint, 1-RIDER Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez said the recent statement of the President “might play into” how the chamber would evaluate the case.

“But I think it would be unfair to say that outright we will say no kasi trabaho po natin yan (because that is our duty) under the constitution as part of the legislative branch,” Gutierrez said in a press conference.

“Should it be filed, we have to give it due process in the sense we'll hear it out, check the merits,” he added.

President Marcos earlier thumbed town impeachment talks against Duterte in a leaked private message to lawmakers.

After confirming the existence of such message, Marcos argued that an impeachment will not “make a difference to even one single Filipino life”.

Talks of impeachment against the vice president came into the spotlight amid the congressional investigation into the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) under Duterte’s term as secretary.

This is among the developments of a brewing political spat between Marcos and Duterte, with the latter earlier admitting to have contacted an assassin to kill the president, his wife, and Speaker Martin Romualdez on the event that she is killed.

Meanwhile, Taguig City 2nd district Rep. Pammy Zamora pointed out that the value of the President’s statement merits respect from the House.

“Binibigayan namin respeto and siyempre mag-weigh talaga yun pag dumating ang panahon na may mag-file ng impeachment complaint,” said Zamora, an assistant majority leader.

(We give respect and of course that will really weigh when the time comes if someone files an impeachment complaint.)

“Pag mayroong nag-file, hindi naman pwede na basta na lang naming upuan. Syempre pakikinggan pa rin namin ang sasabihin ng presidente but we’ll also have to check kung ano ‘yung laman ng ifa-file nila,” she added.

(When someone files, we can't just sit by. Of course, we will still listen to what the president has to say, but we'll also have to check what the contents of their complaint are.)

Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong, for his part, clarified that Marcos’s statement to halt impeachment moves against the vice president is not a directive.

“Of course we respect the position of the President and we value his guidance. Pero hindi yun (it’s not a) directive. It's an appeal actually if you look at it,” said Adiong.

He said this sentiment speaks about the character of President Marcos for his respect over the independence of the legislative branch.

The lawmaker stressed that directing lawmakers and the leaders of Congress to do something is a clear intervention—something he claims Marcos did not do.

“So it only speaks about the president respecting the independence of a co-equal branch,” noted Adiong.

“It speaks about the character of the president because he wants to put the interest of the country above self-interest,” he emphasized.