Duterte Youth Party-list chairman Ronald Cardema on Thursday, Feb. 6, claimed that Duterte allies in the House of Representatives were not invited to the caucus, where the discussions on Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment was held.

After learning that House lawmakers were told to gather at the Romualdez Hall on Wednesday afternoon, Cardema said he asked their party-list representative, Drixie Mae Cardema, if she received the same advisory.

"I asked her if there's a notice of meeting yesterday. Wala naman daw. Sabi ko kindly check the Viber group of the 19th congress, wala rin daw (She said, none. I asked her if she could check the Viber group pf the 19th Congress, she said there was none as well)," Cardema said in an interview with ANC.

"So sabi ko saan nagpupunta itong mga kongresistang 'to. Minomonitor namin, wala talagang patawag sa katulad namin, katulad nila na Duterte allies (So I was thinking where were these congressmen going? We were monitoring it, here wasn't any advisory for Duterte allies like us)," he added.

Cardema's party used to be administration-aligned until the break-up of President Marcos and Duterte's UniTeam.

Promise of funds?

Cardema also claimed that lawmakers were "promised millions or hundreds of millions of funds" before the signing of the complaint. He did not provide any basis.

"Ang balita ko eh merong mga pondo na nakalagay for late release (What I just heard is that there will be funds for later release)," he said.

The former lawmaker then called out members of the current Congress for "running after too much ftunds and money".

Cardema decried the lack of due process for Duterte's impeachment, who he believed was railroaded.

"'Yung pinagkatiwalaan ng taumbayan, katulad ni Sara Duterte, kaya nyong pirmahan ang impeachment na hindi pa naheahear 'yung kaso mismo (You are able to impeach, without hearing her case, the Vice President who were entrusted by the Filipino people)," he said.

Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, one of the 11 congressmen assigned to prosecute Duterte during the Senate trial, said he was not aware who initiated the fourth impeachment complaint.

"Hindi ko rin po alam kasi what happened po. Ito naman po talaga matagal nang pinag-uusapan at pinag-aaralan itong fourth impeachment complaint, but it just so happened na kahapon nagkaroon ng caucus ang party members ng Lakas (I also don't know what happened. But the fourth impeachment case has already been talked about, and it just so happened that a caucus among Lakas-CMD party members was held yesterday)," he said in another ANC interview.

Meanwhile, another opposition solon, ACT Party-list Rep. France Castro denied that lawmakers were forced to sign the impeachment complaint against Duterte.

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