Easy to impeach, but hard to convict

Impeachment involves two head counts. It's easy to muster one-third of congressmen—106 of 316—to impeach VP Sara Duterte. Congressmen have herd mentality. They enact laws almost unanimously.

- JARIUS BONDOC

They'll sign to impeachment even on toilet paper.

But convicting Sara is improbable. Two-thirds of senators—16 of 24—must find Sara guilty. It doesn't matter that there are only 23, after Sonny Angara joined the Cabinet. Supreme Court jurisprudence counts total seats: 24.

Acquittal needs only nine votes. Sara easily can get that.

President Bongbong Marcos likely has computed that acquittal will win. That's why he told congressmen to forget impeachment: "Why waste time on it? It will tie down the House and Senate. It will just take up our time. And for what? For nothing."

Senators who'll vote for acquittal are obvious.

Though mum, they're already shooting full of holes the complaint endorsed by Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendaña. The grounds and counts:

• Graft and corruption:

(1) Unaccounted P125-million OVP confidential-intelligence fund in 2022;

(2) Unaccounted P500-million and P150-million OVP-DepEd CIF, 2023;

(3) Refusal to attend House budget deliberations for 2025;

(4) Squandering P2.735-billion CIF as three-term Davao City mayor;

(5) Tried to get P500-million and P150-million OVP-DepEd CIF for 2024;

(6) Left DepEd with P12-billion disallowances, suspensions and charges;

(7) Unliquidated P7-billion cash advances in DepEd, 2023;

(8) Unutilized P15.4 billion in DepEd, 2023;

(9) Rigged bidding of P8-billion DepEd laptops;

• Bribery: