Critical Analysis

The People’s Cry: Impeach Sara Now!

“IMPEACH SARA DUTERTE!” This was the message of 215 Representatives last February 2025. It was a serious irrevocable demand by the elected officials of the lower house in accordance with their mandate to call for accountability of VP Sara Duterte for her unexplained spending of P125.5 million of the people’s money (confidential funds budgeted under her care as the Vice President and Secretary of the Department of Education), culpable violation of the Philippine Constitution, bribery, betrayal of public trust, death threat against the first couple, and other high crimes, as declared in the live-streamed official hearing of Congress’ QUAD Committee on Good Governance.

But the Senators who were called upon by the Constitution, under Article 11, “forthwith” to institute themselves into an Impeachment Court in February, dilly-dallied practically for 4 months, and shamelessly kept resetting the date of hearing the Articles of Impeachment.

Senate President Chiz Escudero, and his colleagues, have a lot of explaining to the lower house and, more so, to the Filipino people, given their mandate as Senators to implement the Philippine Constitution, in effect, to call to account erring public officials, and in this case, the second highest official of the country!

BRAZEN BETRAYAL
What is even most disconcerting is a brazen betrayal of the people’s right to receive justice from their public officials, paid monthly in millions with the people’s tax money. Senators Bato de la Rosa and Francis Tolentino dared to stop the institution of the Impeachment Court, by coming up with an absurd resolution for their colleagues to approve, and in effect prejudge VP Sara Duterte as innocent of the charges against her.

Constitutionalist Christian Monsod couldn’t stomach this unconstitutional action by the two senators, that he called for them to inhibit themselves from becoming senator-judges of the Impeachment Court. A “Second the Motion” could be heard from netizens, and by countless lawyers and legal luminaries nationwide.

The people are alarmed and feeling disgusted, with such delaying or actual attempt by the Senate to disregard facing the truth of VP Sara Duterte’s guilt and proof of her betrayal of her mandate under the Rule of Law and the Constitution itself.

And this is despite the loud and clear demand by various coalitions of democratic organizations and civil society movements to “Litisin na si VP Sara Duterte!”

LACK OF POLITICAL WILL
The people are asking, “Are the senators dumb, or afraid even at this time of a ‘DDS attack’ (knowing fully well the patriarch-killer is in faraway ICC detention cell in the Hague) and so shameless to allow themselves to violate their constitutional mandate to fulfill their judicial function as an Impeachment Court?”

Surely, all Filipinos of goodwill cannot tolerate such cowardice or lack of political will or clear impartiality in the case of a Duterte accused of committing crimes, while holding an official position of public trust.

The impeachment of VP Sara Duterte should not distract President Bongbong Marcos, his cabinet secretaries and all government officials from addressing the long-time sufferings of the Filipino people.

GOOD GOVERNANCE
Why the delay in marketing the P20/kg of rice and affordable food?

From 2016 onwards up to the present, why have the Duterte/Marcos regimes failed so far to address the myriad problems of the country’s defective Education System, under-budgeted Health System, corruption in the bureaucracy, AFP/PNP continuing pursuit of red-tagged killings, illegal arrests and extrajudicial killings (EJKs), millions of drugs still marketed, the POGOs-generated crimes of human trafficking, various forms of scamming, kidnappings and other illegal activities, and the continuing aggressive attacks on our territorial sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea (WPS)?

Good Governance, where art thou? Coming soon?