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> 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 </s> VICE PRESIDENT Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo and her Liberal party mates on Tuesday denied a plot to oust President Rodrigo Duterte, with Robredo calling the accusation that came from the President himself “misinformation.”

Duterte on Monday said the “yellows” were out to discredit and impeach him, claiming they were behind the international media play-up of his expletive-laden outburst against the United States and US President Barack Obama amid last week’s Association of Southeast Asian Nations summits in Laos.

Yellow is the color associated with the Liberal Party (LP) of former President Benigno Aquino 3rd.

Robredo, the LP’s highest-ranking elected official who was given the Social Welfare and Development portfolio by Duterte, said in a statement: “There are no moves from the Liberal Party to unseat the President.”

“In fact, the leadership of the party has been consistently demonstrating its support to this administration. Members of the party coalesced with the majority in the House and the Senate,” she added.

Robredo was referring to the LP lawmakers who belong to the “Super Majority” bloc led by Duterte’s allies from PDP-Laban, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, Nacionalista Party, National Unity Party and Lakas-CMD in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Rep. Romero Quimbo of Marikina, a Liberal, is one of the 12 deputy speakers of the House.

Robredo said she would “clarify” the “misinformation” on the supposed impeachment plot with the President and assure him of the party’s commitment to his reform measures, particularly on poverty and the fight against illegal drugs.

“We’ve offered the anti-poverty programs and policies that I’ve been pushing for to complement the government’s priorities on poverty alleviation. We’ve been coordinating with the relevant government agencies so that our office can help in the rehabilitation effort that needs to accompany the campaign against illegal drugs,” she added.

Liberal congressmen Feliciano Belmonte Jr. of Quezon City, Edcel Lagman of Albay, Raul Daza of Northern Samar and Edgar Erice of Caloocan City echoed Robredo.

Belmonte said it would be hard to impeach Duterte, who controls Congress.

“He (Duterte) is overwhelmingly popular which amounts to a public approval of his programs. Secondly, he has overwhelming majority in the House where impeachment starts,” Belmonte said.

Daza agreed that impeachment was definitely off the table.

“As you already know, 28 of the 33 LP members are with the Super Majority [bloc]. We [in the LP]have not even talked about impeachment. Impeachment, under the Constitution, begins in the House and I am sure there has not been any talk about that,” Daza said.

‘Impeaching himself’

 For Lagman, a Liberal stalwart who chose to be part of the House minority, the President had no one to blame but himself for what happened last week.

“It is the President who is … impeaching himself with ill-conceived statements that are unmindful of adverse effects and compromising consequences,” Lagman told reporters, referring to the President’s tirades against the US, expletives against world leaders, and controversial statements against political opponents.

At least five LP members belong to the House opposition bloc that has called itself the “Legitimate 8” following the installation of Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez as minority leader.

Lagman’s group, which claims the Suarez-led minority is friendly to the Super Majority, includes Daza, Erice, Teodoro Baguilat of Ifugao and Emmanuel Billones of Capiz.

Erice clarified that being in the opposition did not mean support for Duterte’s ouster.

“We don’t talk about impeachment because it is bad for our country and for our economy. We do not wish impeachment for the President,” Erice said.

“We want President Duterte to succeed, and our role [in the opposition]is to provide check and balance. The President should also try to appreciate that what we are doing here [as opposition lawmakers]is also good for the country,” Erice added. </s> Lawmakers who are allies of President Rodrigo Duterte defended the Chief Executive from a complaint for crimes against humanity filed before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

The criminal complaint is going to the trash bin because the ICC is a court of last resort, Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque said in a statement, calling the ICC complaint “premature, suspect and bound to fail.”

The ICC, of which the Philippines is a state party, is the court of last resort, and a petitioner may only file a case before the ICC after exhausting all legal remedies in the home country.

“The Principle of Complementarity provides that the ICC will only exercise jurisdiction when Philippine courts are unwilling or unable to do so. There are various remedies available within our legal framework that have yet to be exhausted,” Roque said.

Roque lamented that the criminal complaint was filed just as the country is set to host the Asean summit, obviously intended to discredit the administration.

“Thus, it appears that the filing of this letter at this moment is an attempt to discredit the President and the Philippine government as the ASEAN Summit begins. It is regrettable how maneuvers like this to cast a negative light upon the Philippines have become more and more common,” Roque said.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles said the ICC complaint was only intended to destabilize the government and weaken the public support for the President.

“The case filed against the President in the ICC, as most Filipinos know, is the latest step in the destabilization plot against the Duterte administration. This is complete waste of time because any lawyer would say there is no basis to prosecute the President for alleged crimes against humanity,” Nograles said.

He said the complaint has no clear evidence, adding that it is a case of forum shopping because the impeachment complaint against Duterte for his alleged role in extrajudicial killings is bound to fail.

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

“Clearly, those who seek to topple President Duterte are forum-shopping for a court sympathetic to their complaint. If they can’t get the President impeached by Congress, then they can use that as reason to appeal to the ICC to take cognizance of their complaint,” Nograles said.

“In other words, since they know they don’t stand a chance in Congress, they have just gone to the ICC in advance,” he added.

Surigao Del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the ICC complaint is nothing more than an attempt for the complainant Atty. Jude Sabio to get his three minutes of fame at the expense of the President.

“Note that no single piece of evidence was offered to directly link the accused to the commission of the crimes being charged against them,” Barbers said, noting that A Sabio offered as evidence the findings of the Human Rights Watch even though the latter was not a fact-finding body.

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 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 in filing the ICC complaint represented Edgar Matobato, a self-confessed member of the Davao Death Squad who admitted to killing drug suspects in Davao City upon Duterte’s orders.

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 when Duterte was mayor.

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, former Interior secretary Ismael Sueno, among others. </s> 3 Liberal Party members and an ally are stripped of their committee chairmanships in the Senate

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday, February 27, lashed out against the Duterte administration for being "obsessed with monopolizing power and intent on marginalizing those who have opposing views."

This was after senators belonging to or affiliated with the Liberal Party (LP) were stripped of their committee chairmanships. (READ: Liberal Party senators see Palace hand in ouster)

On Monday afternoon, senators Franklin Drilon, Francis Pangilinan, Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, and Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros were removed from key posts in the Senate following a motion by key administration ally, neophyte Senator Manny Pacquiao.

The 4 were once part of the PDP-Laban-led majority bloc. They have since moved to the minority bloc. Akbayan is an ally of the once-ruling LP.

"When we were given the mandate by the people, we were determined to work with this administration to put national interest before politics. But despite our sincere efforts, it is now clear that the Duterte administration is incapable of tolerating dissent, no matter how constructive," said Robredo in a statement released to the media.

"What happened in the Senate today is characteristic of an administration obsessed with monopolizing power and intent on marginalizing those who have opposing views," added Robredo, who was once a member of the Duterte Cabinet.

She resigned as housing chief last December after she was told to stop attending all Cabinet meetings.

The Vice President, a staunch critic of authoritarian rule and of Ferdinand Marcos' dictatorship, noted that the Philippines has seen moves to monopolize power in the past.

"This has happened before. In the past, this paved the way for a one-man rule. We will not be silenced. Our nation deserves no less," said Robredo, who defeated Marcos' only son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, for the vice presidency during the 2016 elections.

As the LP's highest elected official, Robredo is also the party's chairperson.

"Democracy demands dissent," added Robredo. (READ: Robredo to Duterte: 'Mr President, we call you to task')

The shift among the Senate blocs came days after Senator Leila de Lima, an LP member and among President Rodrigo Duterte's staunchest critics, was arrested for alleged ties to illegal drugs on February 24.

On February 25, all 4 senators attended the 31st anniversary celebration of the EDSA People Power Revolution. They were all clad in black.

On the same day, Duterte supporters staged a rally in support of the President at the Luneta.

Last week, the Senate was also divided over a vote to reopen a probe into the so-called Davao Death Squad (DDS), a vigilante group that was supposedly founded and utilized by Duterte when he was Davao City mayor.

The LP bloc voted to allow Arturo "Arthur" Lascañas, a self-confessed DDS hitman, to testify before the Senate.

When we were given the mandate by the people, we were determined to work with this administration to put national interest before politics.

But despite our sincere efforts, it is now clear that the Duterte administration is incapable of tolerating dissent, no matter how constructive.

What happened in the Senate today is characteristic of an administration obsessed with monopolizing power and intent on marginalizing those who have opposing views.

This has happened before. In the past, this paved the way for a one-man rule.

We will not be silenced. Our nation deserves no less. </s> Senator and vocal critic of President Duterte faces drug trafficking charges related to her term as a justice secretary.

A Philippines senator and staunch critic of President Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs has been arrested by law enforcement agents after charges were filed in court alleging she received money from drug dealers inside the country's prisons.

Senator Leila de Lima is accused of orchestrating a drug trafficking ring when she was justice secretary during the 2010-2015 administration of Benigno Aquino.

"The truth will come out and I will achieve justice. I am innocent," she told reporters shortly before law enforcers escorted her away from her office on Friday.

De Lima, her former driver and bodyguard and a former national prison official were ordered to be arrested by a local court on Thursday after a judge found merit in criminal charges filed by the Department of Justice last week.

De Lima has denied the charges, calling herself a victim of political persecution and saying she has long prepared herself to be the first "political prisoner" under the Duterte administration.

"While the issuance of the warrant of arrest is questionable, I do not have any plans to evade it," she said, calling the order premature as the court has yet to hear the response from her lawyers.

READ MORE: Duterte accused of paying police to kill

She slept in her Senate office overnight then gave herself up to armed officers in flak jackets who put her in a van and drove into morning rush hour traffic apparently towards police headquarters.

Duterte, 71, won a presidential election last year after promising during the campaign to eradicate drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.

Since his inauguration on June 30, an anti-drug drive has seen more than 7,000 people killed over suspected drug links - with over 60 percent of the deaths carried out by unknown assassins.

De Lima has previously called for foreign intervention to put an end to the "state-inspired" extrajudicial murders, which she said have been instigated by Duterte since his election to power.

De Lima also led a series of Senate investigations over allegations that police officers were involved in the killings, and that hired killers were operating under orders from police.

De Lima's supporters also insist she is innocent, and that the charges are trumped up to silence one of Duterte's most prominent critics.

In a statement to Al Jazeera, Senator Paolo Aquino condemned the "political persecution" of his fellow opposition Senate member.

"This arrest is purely political vendetta and has no place in justice system that upholds the rule of law. This is condemnable.

"We reiterate that an arrest based on trumped-up charges is illegal," he said citing the "haste" in de Lima's arrest.

De Lima previously claimed she was targeted because of her criticism of Duterte's drug war policy.

During her time as head of the country's human rights body, de Lima also led the investigation into the alleged extrajudicial killings of an estimated 1,000 drug suspects in Davao, while Duterte was mayor of the city.

When Duterte won as president in 2016, his feud with de Lima continued.

At one point he called on her to "hang herself", after he ordered prosecutors to investigate the senator's alleged links to the drug syndicate.

This week, de Lima branded the president a "sociopathic serial killer" after new allegations surfaced accusing Duterte of ordering drug killings in Davao. </s> Paolo Duterte (L) and Manases Carpio (R) denied accusations that they helped facilitate the shipment of crystal methamphetamine worth 6.4 billion pesos ($125.4 million) into the Philippines from China in exchange for payment (AFP Photo/NOEL CELIS)

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's son and son-in-law denied allegations Thursday that they belonged to a drug trafficking gang, with the explosive claims raising questions about the government's bloody anti-narcotics crackdown.

Duterte came to power last year promising to wage a brutal and unprecedented war on drugs. Since then, police have killed around 3,800 suspects in anti-narcotics operations, while thousands of other people have been murdered in unexplained circumstances.

His son Paolo Duterte and son-in-law Manases Carpio appeared at a Senate inquiry Thursday to answer accusations that they helped facilitate the shipment of crystal methamphetamine worth 6.4 billion pesos ($125.4 million) into the Philippines from China in exchange for payment.

The allegations emerged last month when a customs broker told the Senate panel that he had heard the names of Duterte's son and son-in-law mentioned while seeking to expedite the shipment.

The broker later issued a statement clearing the two men of involvement.

But opposition senator Antonio Trillanes at the inquiry accused Duterte's son of belonging to a drug trafficking gang, saying the 42-year-old had a tattoo on his back, resembling a dragon, that was "proof... of his membership" in the gang.

Paolo Duterte, vice-mayor of the southern city of Davao, told the panel that he had a tattoo but said he could not answer allegations based on hearsay.

"The law of karma will operate especially to those with evil intent," he added in a apparent swipe at Trillanes, an arch-critic of the president.

Carpio, who is married to Davao city mayor Sara Duterte, also rejected allegations against their family.

"Me and my brother-in-law have been publicly crucified based on rumours and gossip," said Carpio, a lawyer.

"I have no knowledge of or involvement in the illegal drugs shipment."

The sensational allegations have captured the attention of Filipinos, many of whom back the president's vow to pursue an unrelenting war against drug traffickers.

Duterte, 72, has said he would be "happy to slaughter" three million Filipino drug addicts, even as critics warn the deaths of thousands of people killed in the crackdown may amount to a crime against humanity.

Duterte has denied ever inciting police or vigilantes to commit mass murder.

In speeches, he had encouraged his son to attend the hearing but advised him to invoke his "right of silence".

Detained opposition senator Leila De Lima last month accused the president of hypocrisy over his son's case.

"Let us look at the issue involving the 6.4 billion pesos worth of (illegal drugs) in the Bureau of Customs where the presidential son Paolo Duterte is being implicated," she said.

"(Rodrigo) Duterte has said a mouthful about killing the poor caught with small grams of shabu but his silence on the tonnes of illegal drugs that slipped past customs is deafening." </s> Manila: Senator Leila De Lima was detained in a jail at the headquarters of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in Metro Manila’s suburban Quezon City after her arrest from the Senate for three drug-related cases.

The legislator is being accused of protecting convicted international and local drug lords from 2010 to 2016, when she was justice secretary, to raise millions of pesos for her senatorial bid with the Liberal Party in the May 2016 polls.

“A motion to quash the case against de Lima and question jurisdiction of a lower court in suburban Muntinlupa on her case, were filed, resolutions of which would take days,” said her lawyer Bonifacio Tacardon, adding they will raise the same issue in the Supreme Court.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre alleged the government had “thwarted plans” of pro-De Lima factions to offer P100 million (Dh8.3 million) to eight convicted international and local drug lords to officially recant their testimonies against De Lima — on February 25 — before the 31st anniversary of the people-backed military mutiny that ousted former president Ferdinand Marcos in 1986.”

“The retraction of testimonies would be used by people supporting De Lima to join another people-power to oust President Rodrigo Duterte. If the revolution wins, all high profile inmates who recanted their testimonies will be released from prison: that was promised to them,” said Aguirre in a TV interview. Their earlier testimonies at the senate nailed de Lima’s alleged involvement in illegal narcotics trade.

After emerging from the Senate where she was arrested at eight Friday morning, De Lima said, “I have the honour to be imprisoned for something I’m fighting for [questioning alleged human rights violation of President Duterte]. I am innocent. There is no truth to the lies I am charged with — that I benefited from illegal drug trade. The truth will come out at the right time.”

Senator Francis Pangilinan, president of the Liberal Party that was once led by former President Aquino, said, “The LP is not involved in any bribe-giving of witnesses. This is ridiculous.”

“Sen. De Lima has accepted her current situation. She has realised that this is a process that she has to go through. She’s OK, she’s holding up and well, she’s a very courageous woman and very strong-willed. We’re here to lend our moral support for her,” said Pangilinan.

Government’s chief legal counsel, Salvador Panelo also said, “She is now given the opportunity to refute any and all allegations and/or evidence to be presented by the prosecution against her.”

But former whistle blower Sandra Cam called De Lima a coward and held a protest rally in front of the Senate when De Lima went there to hide and evade arrest late Thursday.

While in hiding at the Senate, De Lima confessed, “I feel less safe if arrested in the evening. I will stay here in the Senate and wait for the sun to rise.” Arresting officers arrived at the office of the Senate Sargeant- at-Arms at 11 Thursday evening,

At the time, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and Interior Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno agreed that De Lima should be arrested at eight Friday morning.

De Lima was the highest official ever indicted for alleged involvement in illegal drug trade, Duterte said, adding that lawmakers, local government officials, and top ranking policemen are protecting international and local drug lords.

De Lima has led local and international rights groups in criticising Duterte’s campaign against illegal drug trade which has killed more than 7,700 since July. Because of irregularities, Duterte barred the police from the campaign. The police admitted responsibility for 2,500 deaths, and blamed drug syndicates for the rest of the fatalities.

Illegal drug trade has reached $4.8 billion a year in the Philippines in 2013, authorities said. </s> Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte “has said he will have his son killed if drug trafficking allegations against the younger politician are true, and that the police who carry out the hit will be protected from prosecution,” AFP reports.

“Paolo Duterte, 42, this month appeared before a senate inquiry to deny accusations made by an opposition lawmaker he was a member of a Chinese triad who helped smuggle in a huge shipment of crystal methamphetamine from China.”
Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte accuses the Liberal Party of former president Benigno Aquino III and their allies of orchestrating an impeachment complaint against him regarding his anti-drug campaign.