Marcos wants to 'move forward' after dismissal of impeachment raps
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. (Mark Balmores/MANILA BULLETIN)
It is time to move forward.
This was what President Marcos said after the impeachment complaints against him were junked by the House Committee on Justice on Wednesday, Feb. 4.
"Ang sabi ng Pangulo, let's move forward dahil ang gusto po niya ngayon ay tutukan ang ekonomiya at paano nga iaangat ang buhay ng bawat Pilipino (The President said, let us move forward because what he wants now is to focus on the economy and how to uplift the lives of every Filipino)," Palace Press Officer and Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said in an interview.
The House Committee on Justice has declared the two verified and endorsed impeachment complaints against Marcos as both insufficient in substance.
According to Castro, the President was glad that the process was followed and maintained that he was confident the complaints will not prosper as he did not commit any impeachable offense.
"Natuwa po siya. Ang sabi nga po niya ay nasunod ang proseso at yun naman din po ang gusto ng Pangulo. Masunod ang proseso at makita ang katotohanan (He was pleased. He said that the process was followed, and that is also what the President wants—that the process be observed and the truth be seen)," Castro said.
The Palace official expressed hope that the junking of the impeachment complaints against the President "helped clarify things and made everything clear to everyone," stressing that lawmakers went through the accusations one by one.
While critics claim that the President's confidence is rooted from the support he holds in the House of Representatives, Castro stressed that even non-supporters and experts believed that the complaints were weak and had no merit.
"Hindi naman po katotohanan 'yan, e, dahil po kahit po ang iba na hindi lang po talaga supporter ng Pangulo ay nagsabi po na talagang pong mahina at wala pong merito ang nasabing complaint (That is not really the truth, because even some people who are not supporters of the President said that the complaint was indeed weak and had no merit)," Castro pointed out.
"Nandiyan din po ang mga ibang constitutionalist na nagsabi na mahina po ang nasampa na impeachment complaint laban sa Pangulo (There were also other constitutional experts who said that the impeachment complaint filed against the President was weak)," Castro added.
Castro also maintained that the President "does not control" the House Committee on Justice, and he was confident merely because he believes he did not violate any law.
According to Castro, Marcos was not able to watch the proceedings as he was attending two events during the day.