By Junex Doronio

WITH THE SEEMING IRREVERSIBLE DECIMATION of the once powerful PDP-Laban that was “hijacked” by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, talks are reverberating in the lower chamber about the possible impeachment of Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte for “betrayal of public trust.”

Reliable sources told Maharlika NuMedia that aside from possible arrest of the Vice President since she was also being investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the “crimes against humanity” charges in relation to the bloody drug war.

In the July 17, 2023 report of Vera Files, VP Sara, Senators Bong Go and Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa were named in ICC probe documents investigating the killings related to the drug war during the previous administration and when FPRRD was mayor of Davao City.

VP Sara’s name was mentioned as knowing and approving the killings when she was city mayor, a post that her father held for more than 20 years.

She was mayor from 2010 to 2013, and from 2016 to 2022.

Vera Files report further bared that a “person knowledgeable of the ICC probe said she could be issued a ‘summons’ by the ICC. If she would not comply with the summons, she would be issued a warrant of arrest.”

Now looms the possibility of VP Duterte’s impeachment with the “mass defection” of FPRRD’s PDP-Laban to the Lakas-CMD headed by Inday Sara’s arch political nemesis Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and to the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP) which was the political vehicle of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. in 2022 presidential polls.

“Impeachment is a numbers game and at this point, the Dutertes are losing their ‘magic’ in Philipines realpolitik and VP Sara could be impeached,” the same sources said.

This was bolstered on Wednesday when Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, PDP-Laban’s Deputy Secretary General for Mindanao, revealed that only four to five members are expected to remain in PDP-Laban as more members are expected to leave in the coming days.

He said at present there are 15 remaining members of the party in the House of Representatives from the original 65 at the start of the 19th Congress.

“Well, I’m still waiting for developments but I’m already weighing my options. Most probably, I’m also transferring to another party,” Pimentel hinted.

He admitted that some members decided to leave the PDP-Laban after FPRRD tagged the lower chamber as the “most rotten institution” in the government, notwithstanding the fact that the feisty former president was once a member representing Davao City’s 1st District, from June 30, 1998 to June 30, 2001.

Notably, former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo — who was stripped of her post as Deputy House Speaker and widely known as political mentor of VP Sara — has still expressed his support for the Romualdez leadership at the 316-strong House of Representatives composed of 253 from congressional districts and 63 party-list representatives.

(AI/MNM)