Maka​bayan solon ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. France Castro has denied that lawmakers were forced to sign the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte during a caucus held before Wednesday's plenary session.

Castro said the 215 House members who signed the complaint were "free-willing" when they did so.

"Hindi totoo na may mga pilitan. In fact, may mga dumalo nga doon na hindi pumirma. Wala naman pumilit sa kanila (It's not true that we were forced to sign. In fact, some of those who attended the caucus did not sign)," Castro said in a press conference on Thursday, Feb. 6.

The majority of the members of the House of Represenatives—from the administration's allies to the opposition like the Makabayan—signed the fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte.

Amid appeals from President Marcos not to push through with the impeachment because it would be a waste of time, it was even his son himself, Ilocos Norte 1st district Rep. Sandro Marcos, who led the signing.

The number of signatures gathered was enough to bypass a committee-level decision and trigger Senate action, unlike the three previous raps filed by various individuals.

Castro, who was also among those who filed the first three impeachment complaints against Duterte, said she and other Makabayan lawmakers signed the recent complaint because it included the article they cited in their own version.

"Kami naman ang Makabayan, pumirma kami doon dahil nakita namin yung aming  inendorse na impeach complaint nakalagay yung tungkol doon sa betrayal of public trust (We, Makabayan lawmakers, signed the complaint because we saw that our own endorsed article of impeachment, the betrayal of public trust, was included there)," she said.