Vice President Sara Duterte pronounced on Saturday that she prefers the impeachment proceedings to move forward as she wants a “bloodbath.”
The vice president made the pronouncement when asked by reporter if the overwhelming returns of votes in favor of the Duterte-backed senators will affect the result of the impending impeachment trial in the senate.
The vice president stressed that whatever the outcome of the trial may be, she will be at peace.
“Wala akong — wala akong expectations of acquittal or guilty verdict. Basta sa akin lang ay tinanggap ko na kung ano yung magiging verdict. Whether guilty man yun or acquittal, I’m already at peace. At hindi ko alam kung paano boboto ang mga senators. If at all there will be a trial, I think it is wrong to start counting votes now because they haven’t seen evidence yet. They haven’t seen what the prosecutors have. They haven’t seen what our defense is. So, parang mali siguro na magbilangan ng boto ng walang pero ginagawa siya ng publiko. Basta sa akin, tanggap ko kung anong mangyayari, kung anong magiging ending ng impeachment,” the vice president told reporters after the Thanksgiving Mass held at the Carmelite Church in Lanang, Davao City.
Senate President Chiz Escudero initially scheduled the impeachment trial to begin on July 30 to accommodate the 12 newly elected senators of the 20th Congress.
The new senators, along with the 12 incumbent senators from the 19th Congress, will serve as judges in the trial.
Duterte said her lawyers are in full throttle in terms of preparations for the impeachment.
“Lawyers? Okay naman sila. In full throttle na yung kanilang preparations for the impeachment. And of course, they would not want a trial as lawyers. As lawyers, alam naman natin ang galaw ng mga abogado mayron silang mga paraan sa batas as a legal recourse for their clients. But sinabihan ko na rin talaga sila, really, I truly want a trial because I want a bloodbath talaga,” she said.
Meanwhile, the vice president reacted to the campaign manager of the administration-backed Alyansa para sa Bagong Pilipinas, Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco’s, claims that the initiators of the impeachment complaint against her are the reasons for the poor showing of the alliance’s candidates in Mindanao.
“Yan ang hindi ko masasabi without a study. Baka merong access sa study si Congressman Toby Tiangco kaya niya nasabi yan. But hindi ko masabi yan kung yan ba ang rason kung bakit pangit ang resulta ng mga senators doon sa Alyansa,” Duterte said.
The vice president also commented to Tiangco’s statement that it was because of the conditional release of projects that were passed in the budget that the lawmakers were able to sign the impeachment in Congress.
According to Duterte, what she heard was that the payment for signing the impeachment was P1.5 million in cash and P6 million for Ayuda para sa Kapos ang Kita Program (AKAP).
“Baka iba pa yung conditional release, so in addition pa yun doon sa mga natanggap noong mga nagpirma. And totoo din naman yun, public record din na makikita ninyo, na yung mga hindi pumirma, zero talaga yung budget para sa kanila,” she said.
She emphasized that congressmen shouldn’t have a budget because that is pork barrel.
“But more than that, alam nyo, hindi dapat nagkakaroon ng budget ang mga congressman kasi that is pork barrel. Hindi sila dapat nagkakaroon ng apportionment doon sa projects ng executive department. Kasi ang trabaho lang naman ng congressman ay gumawa ng batas eh. Hindi siya pwedeng kumuha doon sa budget ng mga departments natin. So, madaming irregularities. And malamang yan din yung protesta ng pagkaraniwan na mga tao na hindi nagagamit ng maayos yung pera ng bayan,” she said.
