House prosecutor Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua doesn't mind President Marcos' neutrality in the impeachment case of the latter's vocal critic, Vice President Sara Duterte.

In fact, Chua says Marcos is doing the right thing by distancing himself from the proceedings.

“Ang impeachment po ay constitutional duty ng Senado at ng Kamara. Hindi po dito saklaw ang ehekutibo. So tama po ang ating Presidente (An impeachment is the constitutional duty of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It's now covered by the executive. So the President is right), Chua said in a press conference Monday, June 23.

Ito po ay constitutional duty ng dalawang Congress—‘yung House at upper chamber which is the Senate (This is the constitutional duty of the two chambers of Congress--the House and the upper chamber which is the Senate),” added the prosecutor-solon.

President Marcos has reiterated to the media that he had no intention of interfering with the impeachment proceedings. He cited the many responsibilities he was handling as head of the executive branch.

Chua says position of the Chief Executive is appropriate and should be respected.

“Sa akin pong pananaw, mas maganda na hayaan na lang po natin ‘yung Palasyo na gampanan nila ang kanilang tungkulin bilang Punong Ehekutibo dahil marami rin pong dapat na tutukan ang ating Pangulo,” Chua said.

(In my view, it would be better for us to allow the Palace to fulfill its role as the Chief Executive, since our President also has many important matters to attend to.)

When asked if it would help the prosecution panel if the President were to speak out in support of the impeachment process, Chua stood his ground that political neutrality from Malacañang was preferable at this stage.

The House of Representatives impeached Vice President Duterte way back on Feb. 5, citing multiple grounds, including the alleged misuse of P125 million in confidential funds spent in just 11 days in December 2022.

In total, the complaint questioned her handling of P612.5 million in confidential funds across the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education (DepEd), which she concurrently headed.

The charges included betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, grave abuse of discretion, and obstruction of legislative oversight. There are seven articles of impeachment in all.