Vice President Sara Duterte’s spokesperson, Atty. Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., on Wednesday, September 16, challenged Communications Undersecretary and Palace Press Officer Claire Castro’s description of calls for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to resign as “delusional.”
Speaking to reporters after the Senate impeachment proceedings, Panelo argued that Duterte’s criticisms of the administration should not simply be dismissed as a personal dispute between the Vice President and Marcos.
He pointed to several issues, including the alleged flood-control scandal, the state of the economy, the value of the Philippine peso, and the ongoing disagreement over the voting requirement in Duterte’s impeachment trial.
“Nasagot ko na yun kahapon eh, pero yung delusional, sino ba yung totoong delusional?” Panelo said during a post-trial press briefing at the Senate.
Panelo questioned whether the government had adequately addressed concerns surrounding the alleged loss of public funds in the flood-control controversy.
“Hindi ba totoo na daang billion na ang nawala sa flood control scandal? Hindi ba totoo na wala pang isang billion ang naibabalik sa taong bayan o sa gobyerno natin?” Panelo said.
He also raised questions about the country’s economic performance and the peso’s value.
“Hindi ba totoo na bagsak ang ekonomiya? Hindi ba totoo na ang peso ay lowest in history?” he added.
Panelo likewise cited the continuing debate over the number of votes required to convict Duterte in the Senate impeachment court.
“Sa kasalukuyan, hindi ba totoo na binabali ang batas katulad nitong voting threshold?” he said.
The impeachment court is currently dealing with arguments over whether the 16-vote threshold previously set by Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who presides over the impeachment proceedings, should continue to apply.
The 1987 Constitution states that conviction in an impeachment case requires the concurrence of two-thirds of all members of the Senate. During Wednesday’s proceedings, retired Supreme Court justices serving as amici curiae presented differing interpretations on how the required votes should be calculated.
The dispute centers on whether the two-thirds requirement should be based on all 24 senators or only those participating in the impeachment trial.