The Senate impeachment court’s decision to reduce the number of votes needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte has drawn a sharp rebuke from a younger member of her family in the House of Representatives.
Davao City 2nd District Rep. Omar Duterte, the Vice President’s nephew, took to Facebook on Wednesday, September 23, to reject the change. He said any effort to bring down the conviction threshold has no basis in the Constitution and treats the Vice President unjustly.
The congressman is the son of Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte.
He framed the issue in national terms, writing that the ruling left him pained over what he considers an assault on the Constitution and on the country’s democratic institutions.
“Nasasaktan ako para sa ating bayan dahil niyuyurakan nila ang ating Konstitusyon at demokrasya para lamang sa sarili nilang interes. Hindi natin ito dapat hayaan,” he wrote.
Duterte also asked the public to stay united and to pray for the country.
“Manatili tayong matatag at nagkakaisa. Ipagdasal natin ang Pilipinas. God Save the Philippines,” he said.
In the same post, the lawmaker argued that the proceedings had already gone too far.
“Sobra na. Hindi na patas ang mga nangyayaring ito. Ang pagpilit na ibaba ang conviction threshold ay hindi kailanman magiging tama o naaayon sa Saligang Batas,” he said.
He characterized the push to change the vote requirement as a calculated and open misuse of the process, blaming it on the political motives of those behind it.
“Ito ay isang desperado at lantaran nang pang-aabuso para sa kanilang malinaw na pansariling agenda sa pulitika,” Duterte said.
