Vice President Sara Duterte (left), lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan (PPAB, Manila Bulletin)

The legal counsel of individuals behind the third impeachment complaint filed against Vice President Sara Duterte gave a rather savage reaction to the huge "peace rally" held in Manila on Monday, Jan. 13.

"Filipinos are for peace, but we are NOT stupid," lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan wrote on X Monday night, the emphasis his.

"Peace without justice is no peace. It’s appeasement to greed, corruption, and impunity," he further said.

On Tuesday morning, Jan. 14, Ligutan would revise his X post to read: "Filipinos are for peace, but we are NOT naive."

The rally, attended by an estimated 1.5 million people, was organized by the influential Christian denomination Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC). 

Although it was presented as a gathering for peace and national unity, the rally undoubtedly had political undertones. It was attended by political allies of the beleaguered Vice President. 

Complaints and endorsers of the three verified impeachment raps are waiting for the impeachment process to formally start in the House of Representatives. 

Last Dec. 19, Ligutan led a group of priests and lawyers in filing the third impeachment complaint against Vice President Duterte. The complainants include members of the Congregation of Mission and Union of People's Lawyers of Mindanao.

"The grounds for impeachment invoked by the complainants are the following: number one, culpable violation of the Constitution; we also have the ground of bribery; we also have the ground graft and corruption; plunder; malversation and technical malversation. The ultimate sa (on the) ground is betrayal of public trust," Ligutan said during the filing.

Last week, the lawyer said of Duterte: "There is palpable broad-based support to the initiatives to hold her accountable for the controversial manner she spent the multi-million confidential funds entrusted to her by the Filipino people, and her even more controversial stance not to explain to the public how she did it."