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No talk of impeachment at House, members say

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Willard Cheng

RG Cruz

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — House lawmakers on Wedensday said they have not heard any talk of impeaching Vice President Sara Duterte, adding Duterte may be being fed counterproductive rumors.In a press briefing, members of the House majority also advised the vice president to be wary of these rumors.“Siguro i-identify na lang niya yung mga friends na nagsabi para ‘yung mga friends niya ang magsabi kung tama po ang mga nakukuha nilang impormasyon mula sa grapevine. Dito po sa House of Representatives, wala naman pong ganoon na napag-uusapan,” La Union 1st District Rep. Francisco Paulo Ortega said.(Maybe it would be better for her to identify which of her friends told her about that so they can also tell her where they got their supposed information. That hasn’t been talked about at the House)House Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin of Iloilo said the chamber has been busy with scrutinizing the proposed 2025 national budget, adding talk of potential impeachment is a waste of time.<div>RELATED: <a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/8/18/lawmaker-tells-dela-rosa-to-stop-spewing-conspiracy-theories-1433">Marcos admin working with &#x27;left, yellows&#x27; vs Dutertes? Dela Rosa told to stop conspiracy theories</a></div>The 1987 Constitution allows the removal of certain officials — including the President and Vice President — through impeachment, but the process has been described as a political tool that is divisive and is a “numbers game”.Garin said Wednesday that she has not heard any talk of impeachment either.“And more importantly, kung sino man yung mga nang-iintriga, sana sabihin kung sino-sino sila para malaman natin kung ito ba ay may vested interest, ito ba tila nililinlang lang yung ating bise presidente o ito ba gusto lang ng fireworks dahil walang magawa sa buhay.”(And more importantly, we need to know who is spreading these stories to see if they have vested interests. Are they trying to mislead the vice president? Are they looking for fireworks out of boredom?)One Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez said that the impeachment rumors need to be substantiated “then perhaps that would be more helpful for us to really thresh out.”He added: “But as far as we&#x27;re concerned, parang wala naman po. (there seems to be nothing to this)”Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong meanwhile called for an end to what he said was rumormongering that is “counterproductive to the work that we&#x27;re doing right now.“<div>ESCUDERO: SENATORS SHOULD NOT COMMENT ON POTENTIAL IMPEACHMENT CASES</div>Senate President Francis Escudero meanwhile warned colleagues against commenting on potential impeachment proceedings since the Senate would have to act as an impeachment court if a complaint does come and is found to have merit to be brought to the upper house.&quot;Walang pag-uusap kaugnay sa Senado diyan at anumang pag-uusap kaugnay ng impeachment ay kikitilin ko sa Senado,” he said.(There is no talk of that at the Senate and I will stop any talk of it at the Senate)He said that he does not want the Senate’s integrity to be put in doubt by loose talk.“[K]asi nga kung matuloy &#x27;yan at kung makarating sa amin, uupo kami bilang mga mahistrado at hindi magandang may masabihang miyembro ng Senado na na-prejudge o meron nang kapasiyahan bago pa man dumating dito ang anumang kaso.&quot;(As I said, if that does happen, we will have to sit as magistrates and it would not be good for members of the Senate to seem to have prejudged the case)Escudero said any impeachment proceedings would eat up the time of the legislature as he reminded all that there can be no impeachment one year before and one year after an election.Under the Constitution, impeachment proceedings can only be initiated against the same official once a year.<div>BUDGET ISSUES</div>Like all agencies in the executive branch, Duterte’s office has to defend its proposed budget in Congress, which exercises its power of the purse.“What I can assure the Office of the Vice President — the Vice President — is the House will extend courtesies, will definitely extend courtesies in the deliberation of her budget,” Adiong said.At budget deliberations at the Senate on Tuesday, Duterte claimed the budget hearings were being politicized after Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked for details on a book project that her office wants funded.&#x27;I don&#x27;t appreciate the attitude&#x27;: Sara Duterte, Risa Hontiveros in heated exchange“Of course, nakahanda ang House for the budget deliberations pero ang hihingin naman ng House from the office syempre dapat nakahanda rin sila na idepensa ang budget nila at saka nakahanda silang sagutin ang mga tanong sa kanila. Ganoon naman po ka-simple. Walang pamumulitika,” Ortega said.(Of course, the House is ready for budget deliberations but we ask the offices to be ready to defend their budgets and to be ready to answer questions. It is that simple. There is no politicking there)Duterte&#x27;s request for confidential funds in the 2024 budget for the OVP and for the Department of Education that she used to head led to a conflict with members of Congress in 2023 and contributed to a falling out within the administration UniTeam coalition.<div>RELATED VIDEO</div><div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-Nc5ToP0Ric?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>

House Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin of Iloilo said the chamber has been busy with scrutinizing the proposed 2025 national budget, adding talk of potential impeachment is a waste of time.

House Deputy Majority Leader Janette Garin of Iloilo said the chamber has been busy with scrutinizing the proposed 2025 national budget, adding talk of potential impeachment is a waste of time.