A word war has finally erupted between two leaders of opposing political organizations in the Senate over the impeachment complaint against President Duterte filed with the House of Representatives.
At the ‘’boxing’’ ring are Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, president of the pro-Duterte PDP-Laban party, and Sen. Francis Pangilinan, president of the opposition Liberal Party (LP).
Pangilinan was bitter over the Pimentel led majority bloc’s treatment of his party mates who were stripped of their chairmanships of committee ‘’for not toeing the administration line on ‘’extra-judicial killings (EJKs), the Marcos burial, the Lascanas hearing and Bureau of Immigration (BI) hearings.’’
‘’Then he expects us to denounce the impeachment proceedings to pro ve to him we aren’t behind the filing of the complaint?’’ he asked.
‘’Who is he to tell us what to do? Hindi lang sya ang halal na senadpr. Hindi kami ang nasa likod nung impeachment complaint ngunit hindi rin kami tutang sunod-sunuran,’’ he added.
Pimentel fired back by asking why the LP told him to concentrate on the ‘’figures that matter and not discuss even theoretically the Vice President’s (Leni Robredo’s) impeachment?’
House of Representatives Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had threatened to file impeachment proceedings against Robredo for airing Philippine internal problems, particularly President Duterte’s bloody anti-illegal drugs campagn, before the United Nations (UN).
The ‘’figures that matter’’ refer to the political opposition at the Lower House needing 90 votes to impeach Duterte based on the complaint lodged by Magdalo Party-List Rep. Gary Alejano. (Mario Casayuran)