Philippine Lawmakers Throw Out Impeachment Complaint Against Duterte

Congressional allies of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday scuttled an impeachment complaint seeking his ouster for a brutal war on drugs which, rights groups say, has led to thousands of deaths.

The complaint’s dismissal by the Congressional Justice Committee effectively ends the impeachment case, which was filed in March.

A frustrated congressman, Gary Alejano, argued to keep the complaint alive, but he was aware he didn’t have the numbers needed to push it through the 292-member House of Representatives where Duterte has a supermajority.

“We can clearly see, and without a doubt that my impeachment complaint is sufficient in form and substance that was required by the rules on impeachment,” he argued.

The dismissal is not expected to be overturned and it thwarts filings of new impeachment complaints against Duterte within one year, giving the president sufficient time to further consolidate support from allies.

Alejano emphasized that the complaint was “culled from authentic records” and from open sources that included “policy statements, public speeches and media pronouncements of President Duterte.”

“All of us have heard him in his speeches where he ordered the police and troops and armed civilians to hunt down and kill all drug users not just once, but repeatedly,” he said.

Duterte, 72, had even promised cash rewards to whoever killed suspected drug pushers, and vowed to pardon police officers who may be charged and found guilty of killing criminals, according to Alejano.

The congressman said that he verified his allegations from available official records, including statements made by several witnesses in extrajudicial killings attributed to police.

‘Undemocratic’ complaint

Two of the witnesses were a former police officer in Duterte’s inner circle and a self-confessed hitman, who have also testified that Duterte personally ordered previous killings when he was still a city mayor in the south.

But Majority Leader Rudy Fariñas questioned the complaint, saying Alejano did not have “personal knowledge” of the killings which, he said, were taken mostly from news reports.

A heated argument ensued, with Alejano later accusing the pro-Duterte congressmen of railroading the complaint because they were not willing to prosecute the president.

“What is now our recourse?,” Alejano said, adding that he and his advisers were now mulling the possibility of joining a complaint filed against President Duterte at the International Criminal Court in the Hague.

Alejano filed the impeachment complaint last month, accusing Duterte of orchestrating the murders of thousands of drug addicts and dealers in his drug war.

But Rep. Harry Roque, who voted against the complaint, insisted it was “rightfully dismissed as it is undemocratic given that the people overwhelmingly gave President Duterte a mandate to lead and he has been in office for less than a year.”

“As pointed out by our other colleagues, Rep. Alejano’s complaint is insufficient in form and substance as he has no personal knowledge on his alleged grounds for impeachment,” he said. “May this this serve as a warning to others not to trivialize the impeachment process.”

According to official statistics, police officers have shot dead almost 2,700 suspects during anti-drug raids since Duterte took office in June. About 5,700 drug-related deaths, including those shootings allegedly perpetrated by vigilantes, were also under investigation.

‘Rehashed’

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the charges filed against Duterte were “rehashed” and aimed at undermining his government.

Duterte has also appeared to backtrack from earlier boasts that he had personally killed drug pushers and addicts – clearly made in front of television cameras.

This came as the Philippine leader sent last week his top choice for the foreign department portfolio, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, to explain his administration’s war on drugs to the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva as part of the U.N.’s Universal Period Review.

But instead of explaining the government policy, Cayetano attacked the local and international press whom he accused of peddling “alternative facts.”

A consortium of rights groups, which monitors the Philippines’ compliance to the international body, said Cayetano’s report “glosses over the numerous extrajudicial killings happening in various parts of the country.

It said the government’s relentless anti-drugs campaign targeted mostly the poor and have resulted in the “killings, disappearances, torture, illegal arrests, among other forms of human rights abuses.”