The University’s Central Student Council (UST-CSC) joined calls for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, citing the core values of UST as it advocated for “ethical leadership, transparency, and accountability in governance,”

In the unity statement released Friday, Jan. 31, the UST-CSC called for the Congress to “fulfill its constitutional duty and take immediate action” on the three impeachment complaints against Duterte.

The council emphasized Duterte’s alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds, which shows her “blatant violation of public trust” and “blatant disregard for transparency.”

The CSC’s public relations officer, Annie Agon, as well as other members of the Thomasian community, also joined a protest on the same day at the Liwasang Bonifacio.

Teachers representative urges speedy impeachment

Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Representative France Castro appealed to Congress to expedite tackling the three impeachment raps against Vice President Sara Duterte despite time constraints in the House’s schedule and the campaign season for the 2025 midterm elections coming up.

“Kailangan talagang ma-impeach si Sara, ngayon na, ‘di dapat tayo nawawalan ng pag-asa kahit na ngayon [ay] mga kasamahan natin sa kongreso ay nalululong na sa mga kampanya,” Castro told TomasinoWeb during the protest. “Kailangan talaga nilang asikasuhin ang kanilang mandato.”

She also called on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. not to meddle with the impeachment process after Malacañang distanced itself from the impeachment raps filed against the vice president on Nov. 29, 2024.

“Hindi dapat nangingialam si Marcos Jr. dahil this impeachment process is the sole objective or mandate of the House of Representatives and Senate,” she said.

Rep. Castro claimed that the President’s statement last November that the impeachment is “not important and a waste of time” sends the wrong signal to the public.

“Dahil sa ganitong postura ni President Marcos, gusto niyang panatilihin ang korapsyon at mga ginawa ni Sara Duterte na hindi niya pinapanagot sa mga misuse ng mga pondo ng ating bayan, na ating confidential funds na malinaw na malinaw naman na ginamit sa “‘di natin alam” na ginamit pala ito sa pansarili na inamin niya sa mga hearings,” Castro added.

Impeachment complaints

Vice President Duterte currently faces three impeachment complaints. The first is a 24-article complaint filed by civic society groups Magdalo, Tindig Pilipinas, and Mamamayang Liberal, together with Catholic Church leaders and families of the victims of former President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. This was supported by former senator Leila de Lima and endorsed by Akbayan Representative Perci Cendaña on Dec. 2, 2024.

The groups sought the vice president’s impeachment for graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, bribery, culpable violation of the Constitution, and other high crimes.

The second complaint was filed by 70 Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) members on Dec. 4, 2024, to hold her accountable for the P125 million in confidential funds that her office spent in 11 days.

Seven priests, together with leaders of non-government organizations and lawyers, led the third complaint, accusing Duterte of betraying public trust and being accountable for the misuse of confidential funds.

The complaint cited revelations that Duterte’s special disbursing officers told the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability that millions worth of confidential funds were handled by the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) security and the OVP’s receipts sent to COA were signed by dubious people with no birth records.

Duterte welcomed the impeachment complaints on Dec. 9, 2024.

House Secretary General Reginald Velasco confirmed on Jan. 20 that the complaints were verified and set to be transmitted to House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

The Constitution says that once transmitted to the House speaker, complaints should be included in the House’s Order of Business within 10 session days. However, more than a month since those complaints were filed, no action has been taken in the lower chamber.

The legislators have three weeks to tackle the complaints before the 19th Congress ends in June.