Rep. Terry Ridon: Sara Duterte to be impeached

Unang-una pag-usapan natin ano ba yung status nitong ano impeachment complaints against si vice president? Nasa plenaryo na no? Oo. Yun pong mga papelos nasa plenaryo na. So um hopefully we will be able to uh sponsor and open deliberations and vote on it no. So we will see if this will happen tomorrow or on Monday na po.

>> Okay. Yung yung pagboto tomorrow or Monday. Tama ba? O >> Monday. Mandi ang pagmoto pero yung lang po kasi syempre we want to follow the Supreme Court um protocol no na dapat lahat ng miyembro may kopya ng articles impeachment at lahat po ng mga annexes and evidence may kopya po yung lahat ng mga miembro no at syempre dapat may kopya din po yyung vice president so um either tomorrow or Wednesday ah either tomorrow or Monday yun pong deliberations in voting will be on ma. Okay.

 Pero naipamahagi na po ba yung mga kopya? Ah bukas tingin ko bukas po maipapamahagi. Mm. Are you expecting uh spirited uh debates over this? >> Um we’re expecting of course that uh uh members for or against the impeachment will have their interpellation on the committee report and on the house justice committee chair J.

 Pero think ko naman po it is nothing that uh the chair cannot ably answer no kasi natungayan naman ho ng buong bayanung lahat po ng mga batayan para po ikasa yun pong impeachment ng pangalawang panginoon. M you were quoted as saying na within 2 weeks mukhang mai-impeach moong vice president no. What makes you very optimistic or confident about the numbers? Well, yung basis for optimism has always been the evidence itself.

 On the ground we have been talking about on unexplained wealth the evidence is clear on 6.7 billion in total transactions. Uh as against 88.5 million. Yun ho talaga stangering ho yung scrabancy doon. ‘yung 448 million na pinapasolid po ng HOA personal sa um vice president o confidential funds misuse.

 Ah very clearly din po tayo doon. And lastly, doon po sa threats against the president, the video speaks for itself no totoo po itong banta laban sa panguno. So yan po yung basis sa optimism ho natin. And syempre the vote yesterday is uh I guess more than enough assurance na talagang mataas po yung support na makukuha. So we got 55 yesterday.

 So 51 na lang po yung kailangan to get 106 votes um to impeach the vice president. Pero um as of today ah mula d sa consultations po namin with other house members and other parties, I think we are almost uh at 200 members who will be supporting the impeachment of the vice president. Okay. Nasa 200. Pero are do you think aabot o malalagpasan pa niya iyung bilang ng mga congressistang sumupor pa sumuporta doon sa impeachment complaint against the vice president last year? Yan po yung syempre ah isa sa mga objectives no by Monday para mapantayan po yun po ang 215

votes uh that voted to impeach the vice president in the 19th Congress. So um if you are at almost 200 members today, so may mga ilang mga araw pa rin ho para makumbinsi na makumbinse po sila on the basis of evidence. Ah ting naman po we will be able to reach that number. How important is it for you to hit that? Kumbaga politically magkakaroon ba na or in terms of optics? Would that be an issue kung hindi ma-meet yun? Kung magkulang? Ay hindi naman ho.

 Pero syempre uh very important ho at this point most especially because we have new compelling evidence related to unexainement. Last year wala po ito it was mostly confidential funds misuse and threats against the president. lang po yung batin nung nakaraang taon ah tingin ko with this more compelling evidence on unexplained wealth tingin ko dapat mapantayan at the very least yun pong 215 okay ah i-address din natin congressman yung mga pinakalat na impormasyon ng mga taguporta ng vice president um i think yesterday or 2 days ago yung umano

merong mga congressista na nagdalawang isip at pinapabawi ‘yung kanilang ah co-onsorship dito sa committee report. Ano po ba nangyari doon? Wala ‘yun. Super intrig lang ‘yun. Talagang ah panggulo lang po ‘yun dun sa ah focus po namin on the boat yesterday. Kasi una sa lahat again the list that they released whoever it is uh includes a name called Bier Rodriguez who doesn’t exist in the roster of house members.

No. So you have Rufus, you have Maximo and L. There’s no house member who is called um Bier Rodriguez. So doon pa lang ho ah fake news na yon agad no. And doon po sa ibang mga um napangalanan doon sa 15 list of 15 Anna Veloso Toazon, Mauricio Domogan, um ah Deputy Speaker Emmano, at marami pang iba na nakalagay po doun sa listahan voted yesterday ah to uh approve the committee report, no? So um bilang na bilang na lang ho yung natitira noon sa mga listahan po ng FL.

So ah wala ho talagang batayan yan pong pinakalat pong ingredient na nag-withdraw. And lastly ah procedurally there’s nothing to withdraw from eh kasi wala pa naman host resolution to hindi ba you cannot withdraw a signature or support for something that does not exist. Hindi ba? So I think these are the points that need to be clarified.

How about yung claim n ng mga tagasuporter rin? Ilang tagasuporta nung vice president na meron daw pressure sa mga congressista o pananakot even para lumagda in support of the impeachment complaints against the vice president? Ting ko wala naman hong ganon. Ah meron ah for example for us no may party list coalition um yesterday may mga focuses po ah na ipinatupad no.

 Um talagang pagtalakay lang po ito ng ah uh ah keseryosuhan at batayan ng impeachment. No tingin ko naman ho you know on the basis of evidence alone particularly the new compelling evidence on 6.7 7 billion in total transactions. It is basically enough to impeach the vice president. Hindi ho yan kailangan ng pamilipit.

Hindi ho yan kailangan ng pressure to convince ordinary house members to actually support their kitchen. Mm. Ito pa-address ko na rin itong ah hirit ng isa sa mga colleagues ninyo. Itong si Caloocan na Congressman na Edgar Irise na hindi raw siya magpa-participate diyan no? Dahil daw puro pulitika lang iyan.

 And I think in question inyong moral ascendancy when it comes to uh handling this impeachment cases against uh the vice president. Okay. Kine-question niya kung talaga accountability ba yung hinahanap dito o political leverage. How do you respond to that? Tin ko hindi naman ho you know yung political leverage kung ang pinag-uusapan lang ho natin dito ah piso-piso na usapin ng unexplained wealth no or like ah 20% discrepancy from the sale.

 You’re talking about such a grand scale of a difference from 88.5 5 million resalian of 2024 to total transactions over the course of 20 years na 6.7 7 billion 4.4 billion in net influence. Ibig sabihin net influence yan yung pumasok na pera sa m accounts nung mag-asawang the 30 carping. So um mahirap ho to dismiss it only as a political leverage or political fighting.

 I think ultimately uh it is clear to the nation that this is a real matter of accountability on the vice president. Mm. I think may pinapalutang din na impormasyon na baka raw glitch on the part of the bank kaya raw lumobo yung uh bank transactions as noticed or detected by the AMLOC. What do you think of that? Well, yun pong ras po ng bangko for example ni Carpio ay patungkol doon sa serya ng transakson over the course of 2 years.

 No um but againung AMLAC po they just noted it no in that AMLC report that we had see. So kumbaga it was not even considered when they reported the total transactions of 6.7 billion. As far as the AMLAC was concerned when they submitted it to Congress during that hearing it stays at 6.7 billion pero even assuming sige na we will grant it to them uh the 2 billion became 2 million sure but it is still 4 billion in total transactions hindi ba again it will still be judged against the 88.

5 5 million sal in 2024 of the vice president hindi ba so it doesn’t really uh it doesn’t really help their case na nagkaroon po ng correction yun pong bank poor department so whether it stays or whether it changes or gets corrected it is still the same conclusion it is a scale far beyond and far different from the sallen of the vice president for 2025 >> okay speaking of salen no kasi alam natin na kung papaano na-weeponize din itong SALN in previous issues uh including under the uh previous administration dahil doun sa mataas na pagkaka-set ng

standards in terms of how should be accomplished filed ah kunwari ‘ ba nag nag nagtanggal ng ah chief justice itong tatay ni Sarah Duterte no at ginamit yung Cowaranto tapos yung 2012 Corona Impeachment Trial napakataas din yung standard sa sinet ng mga senador sa pagpapatalsik dito kay ano kay then chief justice Renato Corona.

 You think given those standards that had been set they have a very very strong case, a very compelling reason to remove the vice president as well at least on the basis of that salid. Hindi ang totoo ho in those previous cases mas mababaw nga po iyung mga sali and violations na pinag-uusapan. So for example in the Sereno case we we’re just talking about salients that were not submitted.

 Yung una pangalawa in the corona case oo yun pong nonclaration of items no in the salend uh of uh the chief justice no. So at saka we are not talking about millions here uh for the case of um the vice president we’re talking about a scale more massive than what we had seen in the corona impeachment and in the sereno warrant to case.

ah tingin ko if if only on the basis of the scale and the difference of it ah talagang may batayan po to impeach the vice president on the salin violations and unexplain actually yung point ko nga ‘ ba dahil napakataas sa expectation na sinet nila before in terms of salen eh ngayon mas malaking pinag-uusapan kay Sarah Duterte so in short you think mas kung kung natanggal yung ano yung ah yung dalawa because of that mas katanggal-tanggal si Sarah Duterte ngayon ganun ba ‘yun That is the necessary logic for it no.

Um very important din po syempre ah hindi lang naman kasi salin eh. Kumbaga you have three other you have two other very um strong rounds to engage the vice president. So yung confidential funds misuse 448 million pinaposomi very clear po yung ah maling pinagamitan po ng mga pondo na yon.

 ‘Yun ‘yung mga ‘yun ‘yung ‘yun ‘yung pangalawa’s syempre ‘yung pangatlo ‘yung banta sa pangulo ng Pilipinas ‘no? So ‘yung mga evidence for that is as clear as day. Wala ho masyadong pagdedebatihan. So the only question is uh makumbinse ho ba natin uh ‘yun pong Senate Impion Court na sapat-sapat bang mga batayan nito to convict the vice president? M.