Bongbong Marcos, Sara Duterte Facing Impeachment Complaints Not Surprising – Kiko Dee

A grandson of democracy icons Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. and Corazon “Cory” Aquino said the prospects of the nation’s top two officials facing impeachment are “not surprising.”

President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte campaigned on a platform of unity in 2022, but their tandem disintegrated on account of conflicting political goals.

“I think there are those of us in the country that don’t find this that surprising,” Kiko Aquino Dee, co-convenor of Tindig Pilipinas, told One News’ “The Big Story” Tuesday night, Jan. 20.

“The decisions that all of us made as a people have consequences that we’re visiting now,” he said.

“We are not surprised to be led by Marcos Jr., who is proud of the corrupt administration of his father; that’s why corruption is happening again. And we are not surprised with Duterte, who has endorsed her father’s abuses and has committed her own during her term,” Dee stressed.

Dee, a senior lecturer at the University of the Philippines Department of Political Science, said the impeachment of both top officials might create a “constitutional gray area” in the short term because both complaints must go through the House committee on justice.

“It’s interesting and important to see how the members will process the complaints,” he said.

Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro, who chairs the justice committee, told reporters on Monday, Jan. 19, that both complaints can be handled at the same time in the lower chamber.

“I have a lot of faith in the members of the justice committee,” Luistro said. “I think the justice committee can confidently discharge its functions as such.”

This isn’t the first time both top officials have faced impeachment complaints simultaneously.

Complaints were filed against both Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in 2000 at the height of the jueteng issue, against Arroyo and Noli de Castro in 2005 during the “Hello, Garci” scandal and Rodrigo Duterte and Leni Robredo in 2017 over the drug war.

Except for Estrada’s, all of them ended up in the legislative archives.

Dee said this impeachment episode should serve as a sobering reminder for the public heading into the 2028 polls.

“This is a signal that if we are not satisfied with the current leadership, the system gives us a chance to restart our leadership through elections,” he said.

Dee stressed that between 1972 and 1986, during the Marcos Sr. dictatorship, the people had no say in the country’s top leadership. But the first people power revolution, which marks its 40th anniversary next month, changed that.

The Aquino grandson, however, reminded the public that the right to suffrage comes with a responsibility. “Neither President Marcos nor Vice President Duterte passes that standard,” he said.