THE UNION of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) stands as one of the complainants in the third impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte. UPLM consistently objects to the misuse of public funds, and the lack of public accountability and transparency, anchored on its firm commitment to the promotion and defense of democracy, peace, justice, and truth.
We oppose the large and ballooning appropriation and insertion of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF), especially into the budgets of national and local civilian agencies that are not directly involved in security concerns.
Through vigilant monitoring and analysis of the public proceedings in the House of Representatives (HOR), particularly regarding the 2022 and 2023 budgets of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd), the UPLM is convinced that Vice President Duterte has committed acts constituting betrayal of public trust, culpable violations of the Constitution, and other impeachable offenses.
Vice President Duterte plundered at least ₱125M in confidential funds allocated to the OVP in 2022 and ₱112.5 million from the DepEd in 2023, acts tantamount to culpable violations of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust. She further betrayed public trust by corrupting and bribing DepEd officials.
We, as lawyers and officers of the court, are bound by our Oath and Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability to conscientiously and courageously pursue justice and uphold the rule of law.
The issues in the impeachment complaint transcend this professional mandate and involve our legal and moral obligations to exact public accountability.
Impeachment is an accountability mechanism for the highest public officials laid down by our sovereign people in our Constitution. Impeachment should be initiated now to send an unequivocal message that no one is sacred and above the law, not even the Vice President.
The UPLM strongly calls on the leadership of the HOR to act decisively and address expeditiously the three pending impeachment complaints.
Finally, the UPLM urges the HOR to extend beyond the OVP, its rigorous scrutiny of the CIF, and other similar budgetary provisions and pork barrel-type allocations that enable unchecked discretion over public funds. This oversight should include other agencies with even larger discretionary CIF allocations for questionable, non-transparent, and potentially unlawful purposes.
References:
Atty. Joel Mahinay
UPLM Vice Chairperson
Atty. Danilo Balucos
UPLM Treasurer
