House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said they are looking to impeach Leni Robredo for sending a video Message to the UN meeting on narcotic drugs in Vienna under the seal of the Vice-President based on erroneous facts and figures.
Robredo asked what is the basis for her impeachment.
Photo credits: ABS-CBN News
I submit it is betrayal of public trust. This is one of the six impeachable offenses in the Constitution.
The Supreme Court has defined it as "Acts that should constitute betrayal of public trust as to warrant removal from office may be less than criminal but must be attended by bad faith and of such gravity and seriousness as the other grounds of impeachment."
Was there bad faith? I submit there was on the part of Robredo when she based her Message to the UN on erroneous facts and figures intended to mislead and discredit the Duterte government. It was her duty to check them out before making her Message. That she did not do so constitutes deliberate omission and criminal negligence given she was making an international address in her capacity as vice-president. She was not making it as a private citizen but as a member of the government even if she is no longer in the Cabinet. She now claims, if quoted correctly, that she had based her Message on stories fed to her. Why she did not check them out as to their veracity before making the video she sent to the UN has not been satisfactorily answered. Her response so far tantamounts to an admission of negligence.
Robredo should know that public office is a public trust. This means all public officers must be accountable at all times to the people and serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty and efficiency and must act with patriotism.
Based on this definition, did Robredo act responsibly? No, she was negligent in her duty to verify the facts and figures in her Message to the UN.
Did she act with integrity and loyalty to the people? Clearly she did not. By blackening abroad the image of the country with false propaganda, she did a grave disservice to the country and its people.
Did she act with patriotism? Destroying her country cannot be defined as an act of patriotism.
I would go further. I believed she also committed treason. By virtue of her position in government, it is high treason.
Treason is the betrayal of one's country. Acts of betrayal include sowing doubt, which is the ultimate treason against faith, with the aim of discrediting the government that was duly elected by the people.
On both counts, I submit Leni Robredo is also guilty of violating her oath of office to preserve and protect the Constitution.
Did she act with integrity and loyalty to the people? Clearly she did not. By blackening abroad the image of the country with false propaganda, she did a grave disservice to the country and its people.
Did she act with patriotism? Destroying her country cannot be defined as an act of patriotism.
I would go further. I believed she also committed treason. By virtue of her position in government, it is high treason.
Treason is the betrayal of one's country. Acts of betrayal include sowing doubt, which is the ultimate treason against faith, with the aim of discrediting the government that was duly elected by the people.
On both counts, I submit Leni Robredo is also guilty of violating her oath of office to preserve and protect the Constitution.
source: Public Trending
Post a Comment
EmoticonClick to see the code!
To insert emoticon you must added at least one space before the code.