President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. reiterated on Friday that the executive branch, including him, plays no part in the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.
He stressed that the process is solely under the jurisdiction of the Congress — the Senate, the House of Representatives and the Supreme Court.
“The executive has no role in this [impeachment case of VP Sara Duterte]. The president has no role. I’m an impeachable officer. I cannot involve myself in any of this. So wala. It's really the Supreme Court, the Senate, and the House,” Marcos said in a media briefing after his five-day state visit to India.
Marcos made the statement in light of the recent decision by the SC declaring the impeachment complaint against Duterte unconstitutional due to procedural lapses in the House.
While, earlier on this week the Senate later voted to archive the complaint.
He shared that while some people had suggested he get involved, he immediately decided to stay out of the issue entirely.
Marcos emphasized that it would be “highly improper” for him to influence lawmakers on impeachment matters, noting that it could even make him liable for impeachment.
"Sorry, problema niyo yan. Hindi ako nang hihiram ng problema. That's your problem. So that's not, again, that situation does not really involve me," he said.
"Pati na ako, ma-impeach kung gagawin ko 'yon. Hindi ko gagawin 'yon," Marcos added.
SC ruling on impeachment 'has no bearing' on merits
Marcos clarified that the high chamber’s decision to void the impeachment complaint against Duterte was grounded solely on procedural flaws and did not address the substance of the allegations.
"We have to make very, very clear to everyone that the Supreme Court decision does not have any bearing on the rightness or wrongness of the merits of the impeachment case," Marcos said.
“Let me clarify that. The merits of the case were not examined by the Supreme Court. This doesn’t mean, this does not decide the merits of the case. It just talked about procedure. So the procedure was faulty, was lacking. So that’s the assessment of the Supreme Court. It has no bearing on the rightness or wrongness of the impeachment case,” the President explained.
He stressed that no trial had been held and that the content of the impeachment complaint had never been debated in court.
Marcos underscored that the ruling does not clear or implicate Duterte of any wrongdoing.
“They are not saying that there was no wrongdoing, neither are they saying that there was wrongdoing. All they are saying is that you [Congress] did not handle it properly,” he said.
Despite the case’s shelving, Marcos noted that allegations of corruption against Duterte remain within the purview of the Commission on Audit and could still be taken up by lawmakers in the future, especially during budget deliberations.
