- Sara supporters vow to let voices heard vs pro-impeachment solons in May elections
SUPPORTERS of Vice President Sara Duterte vowed “zero votes” to House representatives who voted “yes” to the Articles of Impeachment in the mid-term elections this May.
Some 2,000 supporters gathered at Freedom Park along Roxas Avenue on Sunday, Feb. 9, for the indignation rally and candle-lighting.
Randy Usman, one of the organizers in the rally, said, “Sinisiraan lang nila si VP Sara para bumaba ang dignidad niya, kaya ang pinaparating namin sa kanila na walang katotohanan yung fi-nile nila (They are doing a demolition job against the VP to damage her reputation, so we wnat to let them know that there’s no truth to what they filed),”
“Hindi kami titigil sa aming ginagawa hanggang hindi i-withdraw ang impeachment complaint (We won’t rest until they withdraw the impeachment complaint),” he added.
Usman claimed that people from neighboring provinces of Davao de Oro, Davao del Norte, and as far as Surigao del Sur and Maguindanao joined the rally, which was capped by the participants singing along to Freddie Aguilar’s iconic “Bayan Ko.”
House of Representatives Secretary General Reginald Velasco confirmed that lawmakers who backed Duterte’s impeachment have reached 240 afterl 25 more joined the initial 215 who signed the document.
Of the first 215, 41 out of 60 district representatives in Mindanao signed yes, while for the additional 25, the two were Lanao del Norte Mohamad Khalid Dimaporo and Sultan Kudarat’s Princess Rihan Sakaluran.
The impeachment cited seven articles including betrayal of public trust/ committed culpable violations of the Constitution and committed high crimes due to assassination threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez; betrayal of public trust/malversation and misuse of funds within the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Office of the Vice President (OVP); betrayal of public trust/bribery within DepEd; betrayal of public trust due to failure to disclose SALN; involvement in extrajudicial killings in the drug war when she was still Davao City mayor; betrayal of public trust from alleged destabilization plots and high crimes of sedition and insurrection; and betrayal of public trust due to her “gross unfitness” as vice president.
