Acidre says charges vs Romualdez only a 'diversionary tactic'
At A Glance
- Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre on Monday, Feb. 10, questioned the timing of the filing of charges against House Speaker Martin Romualdez by Duterte allies, which only came after House lawmakers impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.
Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre on Monday, Feb. 10, questioned the timing of the filing of charges against House Speaker Martin Romualdez by Duterte allies, which only came after House lawmakers impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.
Acidre said that the move of Citizens Crime Watch and Duterte allies senatorial aspirant Jimmy Bondoc and Davao Del Norte 1st district Rep. Pantaleon Alvarez, to charge Romualdez and other members of the House of Representatives was only a "diversionary tactic".
It is their way to divert the public from the fact that Duterte has been impeached due to various reasons, according to Acidre.
"Clearly, there is an effort to downplay the move of the house to transmit the impeachment to the Senate, and also divert the attention ng ating mga taumbayan ukol sa totoong issue na dapat sagutin ng kabilang kampo (of the public from the real issue that the Duterte camp needs to answer)," Acidre said in a press conference.
"Kung iisipin mo, ang tagal na nilang pinag-uusapan yung budget. Bakit ngayon lng nila naisipan mag file ng cases, pagkatapos na i-trasmit ang impeachment sa Senado (If you think about it, they've been talking about on the budget for quite some time now, but it is only now that they filed charges regarding it, right after the transmittal of impeachment complaint against Duterte to the Senate)," he added.
Petitioners on Monday filed before the Office of the Ombudsman criminal cases against Romualdez, House Majority Leader Mannix Dalipe and Ako Bicol Party-list Rep. Zaldy Co for alleged falsification of legislative documents.
It stemmed from the allegedly illegal insertion of at least P214 billion worth of funds into the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
Acidre said there was nothing illegal that happened in the passing of the national budget.
He says verybody is welcome to file charges against anybody, and that the respondents will just respond against the allegation once they receive the copy of the charges.