MANILA, Philippines - Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano yesterday filed a supplemental impeachment complaint against President Duterte in which he accused the Chief Executive of selling out the national interest to China.
The additional complaint charges Duterte with betraying public trust, violating the Constitution and committing other high crimes by “failing to assert the country’s sovereignty over the Benham Rise and to protest China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea.”
“Whose interest is the President protecting – our country’s interest or that of China? What really is the special connection between China and President Duterte? Do they have a secret deal?” Alejano asked aloud before a news conference after filing his supplemental complaint with the House of Representatives.
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo dismissed the supplemental impeachment complaint filed by Alejano as “nonsense.”
“It’s nonsense geared for propaganda and publicity for himself,” Panelo said in a text message.
“It may even be deemed to be a second impeachment complaint which is a prohibited complaint under the one-year prohibition limiting the filing to only one complaint in a year,” he added.
The former Marine captain cited a report that before the May 2016 elections, then candidate Duterte made a trip to China.
“Did China meddle in the elections?” he asked.
Alejano recalled that since winning the presidency last year, the President’s pronouncements on the disputed territories in the West Philippine Sea “were statements of surrender to China.”
He said Duterte chose to set aside the July 12, 2016 ruling of the United Nations Permanent Court of Arbitration junking China’s nine-dash claim over most of the West Philippine Sea and recognizing at least three reefs Beijing is claiming as part of the Philippines’ 200-mile exclusive economic zone.
The contested territories include Panganiban (Mischief) Reef, where China has built military installations, and Recto (Reed) Bank, where the government has stopped oil and gas exploration projects due to Beijing’s protest.
Alejano said Duterte should have used the arbitral court’s ruling to strengthen the country’s claim over these reefs.
“Instead, the President has taken a defeatist stance and openly signaled China to go ahead with whatever it intends to do in the West Philippine Sea,” he said.
In the case of Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal, which is now controlled by China, it is clearly within the Philippine 200-mile EEZ, he said.
Alejano pointed out the shoal is only 160 miles off the coast of Zambales and Pangasinan, while it is 500 miles from the nearest coast of China’s Hainan province.
The President failed to protest China’s plan to build a monitoring or radar station in Panatag Shoal by saying he could not do anything about it, he added.
In the case of Benham Rise, an undersea expanse the UN has awarded to the Philippines, Alejano said Duterte allowed a Chinese research ship to survey it.
“Through his inaction, actions and pronouncements, he has continued to ignore our national interest because he is afraid to offend his Chinese friends,” he stressed.
Thus, Duterte must be held accountable and removed from office through the impeachment process, he said.
Responding to questions, Alejano said the “unfortunate recent developments in the House” could widen support for his impeach-Duterte initiative.
He said these events are the worsening quarrel between Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Davao del Norte Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr., and Alvarez’s alleged dictatorial tendencies.
“He treats us like subordinates despite the fact that we are all elected members of Congress,” he said.
Alejano said many of his colleagues resented the Speaker’s heavy-handed treatment of members who voted against the death penalty bill.
Alvarez has purged at least 12 lawmakers, including former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who lost her position as deputy speaker.
Alejano also said he would not withdraw his complaint just to stop Alvarez from making good his threat to initiate the impeachment of Vice President Leni Robredo.
“Our complaint has nothing to do with the Vice President. It’s about the abuses and excesses of President Duterte, which we are exposing as part of our duty to the public,” he said.
Source : PhilStar