The full footage of the United Nations event that featured Vice President Leni Robredo’s controversial video message on extrajudicial killings was released on Tuesday, as the House of Representatives received the second impeachment complaint against her.

David Borden, executive director of the UN-accredited Drug Reform Coordination Network, said he timed the posting of the 55-minute video to coincide with the resumption of session of the 17th Congress, as Robredo faced a second impeachment threat for “betraying the public trust” in criticizing the drug war.

“Our hope in releasing the full footage of our event—which included both critics and defenders of the government—is that discussion might return to the real issues at stake,” Borden said in an e-mailed statement to the Inquirer.

Robredo’s message to a side meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting in Vienna on March 16 stirred a political firestorm as it coincided with the filing by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano of the first impeachment case against President Duterte.

Mr. Duterte’s allies, including Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, were outraged by Robredo’s criticism of the war on drugs at an international assembly. Two Marcos loyalists submitted to Alvarez’s office an impeachment complaint, while a lawyers’ group filed the second one later Tuesday.

“Speaker Alvarez mischaracterized our event when he claimed without evidence that the Vice President’s video was timed to coincide with the impeachment complaint against the President and the European Parliament resolution on Sen. [Leila] de Lima,” Borden said.

“[Alvarez] stopped saying that after I provided documentation to the contrary to Philippine media. But it’s that initial lie which gave the drive to impeach Vice President Robredo the momentum it needed to really start,” he added.

Along with Robredo’s message, the event also featured presentations by Commission on Human Rights Chair Jose Luis Martin Gascon, former Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva (video) and other experts.

A representative of the Philippine government, Sulpicio Confiado, deputy chief of mission and consul general in Austria, was given time to speak as well.

“The footage is released as the Philippine Congress goes back into session today,” Borden said, noting how opponents of the Vice President had “seized on the video to attack her politically, arguing that she should be impeached for submitting it.”

“Under previous administrations, the Department of Justice considered killings by police officers a matter to be evaluated in court. Under Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, the department has instead relied on internal investigations.”

“Out of more than 2,500 acknowledged cases of drug suspects killed in police operations, the Department of Justice has filed criminal charges against officers zero times—an implausible outcome if investigations were being done seriously.”

“President Duterte’s public statements encouraging mass killings constitute ‘inducement’ to commit crimes against humanity and are sufficient on their own to hold him liable.”

“Police have not cooperated with CHR investigation-related requests.” </s> Fifteen Liberal Party (LP) lawmakers from a pro-Duterte coalition of parties in the House of Representatives met with Vice President Leni Robredo on Wednesday, agreeing to block all attempts to impeach her, one of the LP members said yesterday.

Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo, a ranking LP leader, said the consensus was reached when the LP members met with Robredo at her office in Quezon City.

He said the LP members also had pledged their “strongest commitment of support” to Robredo, currently LP chair.

Robredo had drawn the ire of supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte after she sent a video message to a United Nations event raising alarm over extrajudicial killings linked to Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs.

Quimbo said the threat of impeachment hanging over Robredo and Mr. Duterte was among the topics of the meeting at Robredo’s office.

In a statement, Quimbo said devoting the House’s time to “any impeachment complaint today will only be divisive.”

“It will only serve to distract us from the many important matters that Congress should be giving priority to,” Quimbo said.

He said the LP members “categorically took a position that we will not support any of the impeachment complaints filed against the leaders of the land.” Quimbo did not mention Mr. Duterte’s name in the statement, though.

At least 32 House members still belong to LP, the party in power during the Aquino administration. Five of them had formed an independent opposition bloc.

In March, an impeachment complaint was filed against Mr. Duterte by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, accusing the President of the mass murder of thousands of drug suspects, amassing P2.2 billion in unexplained wealth and absconding on his duty to defend Philippine territory against China.

Robredo’s video message to the annual meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotics Drugs became public on the same day Alejano’s complaint was filed.

Marcos loyalists, led by lawyer Oliver Lozano, filed an impeachment complaint against Robredo at the Speaker’s office for endorsement. Another group is building a case against her.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, a bosom buddy of Mr. Duterte, expressed support for the impeachment complaint against Robredo.

Robredo confirmed the meeting with the 15 LP members.

“They said they agreed among themselves that they will protect me,” she said in a transcript of an interview sent by her staffers.

Robredo said she would discuss the matter with more LP members soon but said there is no plan, yet, for LP members to bolt the pro-Duterte coalition in the House. </s> Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan called on the people on Wednesday to act against “bullying” like the impeachment bid lodged against Vice President Leni Robredo.

“We call on the people to maintain vigilance and take action to prevent bullying, like this forced impeachment,” Pangilinan said in a statement.

The senator made the call a day after another impeachment complaint against Robredo was filed at the House of Representatives by a group of lawyers. No House member has so far endorsed the complaint.

Pangilinan is president of the Liberal Party while Robredo is the party chair.

“The impeachment case against Vice President Leni Robredo was pulled out of thin air and completely baseless. Clearly, free speech — in whatever way, inside or outside the country — is non-impeachable. In fact, this is protected by the Constitution,” the senator said.

Robredo has been accused in the complaint of betraying the public trust, among others, when she delivered a recorded speech at a United Nations side meeting criticizing the government’s war on drugs.

But Pangilinan was confident the impeachment bid would not take off in the House.

“We are confident that the truth will prevail and ultimately the impeachment will be dismissed,” he added. IDL </s> No member of the House of Representatives came forward on Tuesday to endorse the impeachment complaint by a group of lawyers against Vice President Leni Robredo in the second attempt to unseat her in two months.

Facing the House media, lawyer Bruce Rivera, one of the complainants, insisted that the complaint was “received” by a congressman but would not identify him or explain why the filing did not take place as announced.

Under the 1987 Constitution, an impeachment complaint may only be filed by a non-House member if it is endorsed by a congressperson.

“Think all you want. You can make it look like that,” Rivera said in reply to persistent questions about whether his group experienced difficulty in finding a House member to endorse their impeachment complaint.

“When we were forming it, [the congressman] already reached out, saying we should go through with it… It’s just that we have to be a little circumspect,” the lawyer said.

He acknowledged that President Duterte had publicly repudiated any attempt to impeach Robredo, and that his group was facing an uphill climb in the House, where Robredo served as Camarines Sur congresswoman before rising to the vice presidency.

Earlier Tuesday, Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas said the “Impeach Leni” group should secure an endorsement from a House member first before their impeachment complaint could be entertained under the rules.

“If those who file later do not get an endorsement, then it’s just a scrap of paper,” he told reporters.

At the briefing, Rivera could not immediately produce copies of the complaint, which he said amounted to about 30 pages, for the media, as the only validated copy was still with the unidentified congressman.

He, however, gave some details on the grounds cited and the purported evidence against Robredo.

Rivera said the impeachment complaint accused the Vice President of betrayal of public trust, culpable violations of the Constitution, and graft and corruption.

He said Robredo, as one of the sovereign leaders of the Philippines, betrayed the republic when she delivered a recorded speech to a United Nations panel meeting strongly criticizing the administration’s war on drugs.

He said the Vice President’s words were “reckless and irresponsible,” noting disavowals by the Philippine National Police and other government agencies about her claims in the recorded message, including an allegation about a “palit-ulo” scheme, literally meaning “exchanging heads” of those on drug watch lists with their friends or family.

Rivera also accused Robredo of misdeclaring her assets in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), when she only put in her shares in Meralco as a “business interest” without giving any amount.

He also ascribed irregularities to Robredo when she still chaired the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, saying Pagibig funded a convention in the United States that was not about housing but about social empowerment.

Robredo is the nominal leader of the Liberal Party. In December she quit President Duterte’s Cabinet as housing secretary over policy and political differences and emerged as a leading opposition figure.

In March, Marcos loyalists Oliver Lozano and Melchor Chavez submitted to the Speaker’s office an impeachment complaint alleging that Robredo betrayed the public trust for her six-minute video to the 60th United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs annual meeting in Vienna.

Asked if his group also provided Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez with a copy of the complaint, Rivera would not confirm or deny, saying only: “We respect Speaker’s position but we don’t want to ruffle his feathers there.”/rga </s> In this Feb. 13, 2017 photo, Philippine Sen. Leila de Lima takes her seat during a session in the Philippine Senate in suburban Pasay city, south of Manila, Philippines. Philippine justice secretary said Friday, Feb. 17, 2017, criminal charges have been filed against the opposition senator allegedly receiving money from detained drug lords in a move that can lead to the arrest of one of the president's most vocal critics.

Start the conversation, or Read more at SFGate. </s> MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Philippine officials say that an opposition senator and leading critic of the president’s deadly anti-drug crackdown has been arrested on drug charges.

The arrest comes a day after the Regional Trial Court in Muntinlupa city in the Manila metropolis issued the warrant for the arrest of Sen. Leila de Lima and other officials who have been charged by Department of Justice prosecutors with receiving bribes from detained drug lords.

De Lima has denied the charges, which she said were part of an attempt by President Rodrigo Duterte to muzzle critics of his crackdown, which has left more than 7,000 drug suspects dead. She questioned why the court suddenly issued the arrest order when it was scheduled Friday to hear her petition to void the three non-bailable charges. </s> 'Our hope in releasing the full footage of our event... is that discussion might return to the real issues at stake,' says David Borden, executive director of DRC Net Foundation

MANILA, Philippines – The full footage of the international forum that featured Vice President Leni Robredo's video message criticizing the drug war was released online on Tuesday, May 2.

The 55-minute video was released on the same day that Robredo's critics asked lawmakers to endorse an impeachment complaint against the Vice President, accusing her of betraying public trust, culpably violating the Constitution, and graft and corruption.

"Our hope in releasing the full footage of our event – which included both critics and defenders of the government – is that discussion might return to the real issues at stake," said David Borden, executive director of the non-governmental organization DRC Net Foundation, which organized the event.

Robredo was accused of trying to destabilize the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte by criticizing the extrajudicial killings linked to its bloody crackdown against drugs.

The video message was played at the NGO's event, which was held on the sidelines of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs meeting in Vienna, Austria, last March.

The Duterte administration partly blames Robredo's video for the European Union's resolution in March that warned the Philippines could lose trade incentives over the human rights situation.

Fact-checking by Rappler, however, showed that the EU resolution did not cite Robredo's video as a basis for its warning.

In a statement, Borden said it was a "strange spectacle" to see public figures ignore Duterte's own repeated calls for mass killings against drug criminals who fight back, while attacking Robredo "for raising legitimate concerns" about it.

"The international community isn't focused on the Philippines' drug war killings because Vice President Robredo recorded a video; it's that President Duterte promised mass killings and appears to have delivered them," he said.

Borden added that House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who said he was considering filing an impeachment complaint against Robredo over the video message, had "mischaracterized" the forum.

"Speaker Alvarez mischaracterized our event when he claimed without evidence that the Vice President's video was timed to coincide with the impeachment complaint against the President and the European Parliament resolution on Senator [Leila] de Lima. He stopped saying that after I provided documentation to the contrary to Philippine media," Borden said.

"But it's that initial lie which gave the drive to impeach Vice President Robredo the momentum it needed to really start," he added.

Aside from Robredo, the forum also featured presentations by Commission on Human Rights Chairperson Chito Gascon, former Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, and other experts.

Borden also listed some key takeaways from the event. He noted that out of more than 2,500 cases of drug suspects killed in police operations, the justice department has not yet filed criminal charges against police officers – "an implausible outcome if investigations were being done seriously," Borden said.

He added that Duterte's public statements encouraging the killing of criminals who fight back constitute "inducement to commit crimes against humanity, and are sufficient on their own to hold him liable." – Rappler.com </s> MANILA, Philippines — An impeachment complaint is set to be filed against Vice President Leni Robredo before the House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon, according to reports.

Actress Vivian Velez, a known supporter of President Rodrigo Duterte, said on her Facebook page that the impeachment complaint will be filed against the vice president at 1 p.m.

A report from radio dzBB said that Interior Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III said that the grounds for impeachment against Robredo are betrayal of trust, culpable violation of the Constitution and graft and corruption.

The basis for the complaint was Robredo's video message played during a United Nations forum where she revealed the alleged "palit-ulo" scheme of the police.

Meanwhile, the Robredo camp said that there is utterly no basis for the impeachment complaint that is going to be filed against the vice president as her record is "completely spotless."

"This was expected. They announced this about several weeks ago and this is not really something completely unexpected but it is something that we think is, to be perfectly blunt about, it a ridiculous effort on their part," Barry Gutierrez, Robredo's legal adviser, said in a telephone interview with CNN Philippines.

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Gutierrez added that Robredo is not giving importance to the impeachment complaint as she is more focused on her job.

"Honestly, she is not giving this too much thought. She's focused on doing the job she was elected to do. She's focused on pushing the programs that her office has initiated since the star of her term including Angat Buhay and you know this is just political noise," Gutierrez said.

The Robredo camp, however, is ready to take on the complaint if it pushes through on the lower chamber.

"We're prepared to actually take this on. Obviously, there's a constitutional process for this and if this complaint, despite its weakness, will get some kind of endorsement from any kind of Congress then you know there's a process to be followed and we'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Robredo's legal adviser said.

Duterte earlier called on his allies to lay off on the planned impeachment charge against Robredo as she did not commit any overt act that warrants her removal from office.

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, however, is keen on proceeding with the impeachment bid despite Duterte's call, according to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.

RELATED: ‘Leni impeach bid to proceed’ </s> An opposition lawmaker who sought the impeachment of President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday welcomed the filing of a complaint before the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague against the chief executive, and said this could signal the way to hold him accountable for his brutal war on drugs.

In a statement, Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said he respected the decision of Atty. Jude Sabio, counsel of confessed Davao Death Squad hitman Edgar Matobato, to take to the ICC Duterte’s alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings, which was also the main crux of Alejano’s impeachment complaint against the president.

READ: 1st impeachment complaint filed vs Duterte for killings, graft | Solon files impeach rap vs Duterte over West PH Sea, Benham Rise

“I respect the action of Atty. Sabio to file a case of crime against humanity committed by President Duterte before the ICC. This is the same issue and one of the basis embodied in the impeachment complaint I filed against Duterte last March 16,” Alejano said.

Alejano said the complaint before the ICC is an opportunity for Congress to show it is partial from the president.

“This is an opportunity for Congress to show to the world that it is independent from the influence of the President and prove that it is able and willing to make him accountable of crimes he has committed to the Filipino people,” Alejano said.

In his 77-page complaint, Sabio cited the “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines due to the thousands of Filipinos killed in Duterte’s anti-drug campaign that started when he was Davao city mayor and continues now that he is president.

READ: Duterte, 11 others accused of crimes against humanity before ICC

“Your favorable action on this matter would not only serve the noble ends of international criminal justice, but would also be the beginning of the end of this dark, obscene, murderous and evil era in the Philippines,” Sabio said.

Sabio said the 7,000 drug-related killings in the Philippines in the past seven months have surpassed the 3,000 killings during the two-decade martial law regime of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

The police has contested the 7,000 figure, noting that only around 2,600 drug pushers and users were killed in legitimate police operations.

Sabio’s client Matobato has testified in a Senate inquiry about Duterte’s alleged order for the vigilante group Davao Death Squad to kill drug criminals in Davao city.

Also included in the complaint are Duterte’s closest allies – Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre, Philippine National Police chief Ronald Dela Rosa, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Senators Richard Gordon and Alan Peter Cayetano, Solicitor General Jose Calida, and former Interior secretary Ismael Sueno, among others. IDL
Philippine vice president Leni Robredo faces an impeachment charge before the House of Representatives for condemning the country's war on drugs at the United Nations.