Antipolo City 1st District Representative Ronaldo Puno said Thursday that the National Unity Party (NUP) will likely permit a conscience vote on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Puno clarified that the statement released to the media on Wednesday night was not the party’s official stand but rather a consensus among members he had spoken with.
“No, this is not the party stand. This is just the consensus of the ones that I have talked to. We will have another formal meeting,” he said.
“I doubt that there will be a uniform party stand here because there is just too much division among our members. So the tendency now or the direction now is that we probably will have para kaya conscience vote na that everybody will be allowed to vote the way he wants to vote,” Puno added.
The lawmaker stressed that there is no clear bias within the party at this stage.
“There’s no clear bias or leaning towards either side at this point. So we are very divided right now. So we ended up with let’s see what the evidence will show,” he said.
The NUP statement emphasized that support for the impeachment would depend on the presentation of new evidence.
Party members remain split: Iloilo 3rd District Representative Lorenz Defensor maintained that the case against Duterte is strong, while Manila 6th District Representative Benny Abante endorsed the fourth impeachment complaint.