The impeachment race is on

The doors are not shut yet even after the House of Representatives’ Office of the Secretary-General refused to accept last Monday the impeachment complaint initiated by a third group against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM).

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

As far as the group led by flamboyant lawyer Ferdinand “Ferdie” Topacio is concerned, they can, in fact, compel the House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil to reopen its doors for the third impeachment complaint on PBBM.

This was after Garafil’s deputy did not accept the third impeachment complaint on the grounds that their boss was not physically present in their office. Garafil was on an official trip in Taiwan to accept an award as the previous head of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei.

Lawyer Andre de Jesus was the first to file impeachment complaint and was officially accepted by Garafil at her office last week. It was immediately endorsed by Deputy minority leader and Pusong Pinoy party-list Rep. Jérnie Nisay. Garafil herself received the documents.

Actually, the second and third impeachment complaints were filed one after the other last Monday. Both were refused for the same reason that the House Secretary-General could not officially receive them. But the members of the House Makabayan bloc who initiated the second impeachment refiled the same when Garafil reported back to office last Tuesday.

The third group of Topacio, mostly identified with the PDP-Laban, opted not to refile their own impeachment complaint. Instead, their group threatened to question before the Supreme Court (SC) the alleged “grave abuse of discretion” by the House secretary general's office in not accepting the third impeachment complaint.