Ortega: Impeachment attempt vs Marcos just 鈥榩ublicity stunt鈥�
Former Duterte Youth party-list lawmaker Marie Cardema and ex-National Youth Commission chair Ronald Cardema pose with the front page of a ‘verified impeachment complaint’ against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — Photo from the Facebook page of Duterte Youth partylist
MANILA, Philippines — Attempts to file an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are “cheap and desperate publicity stunts,” La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V said as he vowed to protect the Chief Executive from the attacks.
Ortega, in a statement on Friday, said that the impeachment complaint pushed forward by the Duterte Youth just intends to distract the public from the gains made by the country under Marcos.
“I will personally protect the President from this baseless and malicious attack. The so-called impeachment complaint is a mere political gimmick, designed to distract the public from the real work of nation-building under the leadership of President Marcos,” Ortega said.
According to Ortega, the complaints have not been formalized but the Cardemas are already using the issue to gain fame even if the complaint has not been filed and verified by the Office of the House of Representatives’ Secretary General.
On Thursday afternoon, former Duterte Youth party-list lawmaker Marie Cardema and ex-National Youth Commission chairperson Ronald Cardema posed for photos while holding the front page of a “verified impeachment complaint.”
Initially, it was unclear if the supposedly verified complaint has reached the office of House Secretary General Reginald Velasco, as the session is currently adjourned. Eventually, the Duterte Youth party-list said that they have not formally submitted the complaint since Velasco was not personally there to receive it.
READ: Duterte allies to file impeachment complaint vs Marcos
“There is no formal complaint yet, but they are using this to gain fame through the media,” Ortega said in Filipino. “This tells you everything you need to know—it’s not about justice, it’s about clout.”
“In La Union and across the country, we see the results of good governance under (Marcos). We will not allow attention-seekers to hijack the national agenda for their own selfish ambitions,” he added. “We will not allow bad politics to destroy the good that we are building. The Filipino people deserve better.”
According to the Duterte Youth party-list, they are seeking to file an impeachment complaint against Marcos as he allowed the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Last March 11, Duterte was stopped from leaving the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 after coming home from Hong Kong, to help the International Criminal Police Organization in enforcing an arrest order from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC arrest order was issued due to the crimes against humanity raps filed against Duterte, for his role in the bloody drug war.
Hours after the Duterte Youth party-list attempted to file the complaint, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said that there is not much that can be done regarding the impeachment complaint as Congress is currently not in session.
Congress will resume session by June 2, but the 19th Congress will close its curtains by June 13 — which means that there will only be a maximum of nine session days remaining, as June 12 is a holiday.
According to Romualdez, even personnel of the Office of the Secretary General are currently attending a seminar — which means they cannot receive complaints as of now.
READ: Not much to do with impeachment raps vs Marcos, session in break
Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre, meanwhile, questioned the timing of the complaint, asking why this petition was filed only days before the elections./das
