Press Release
May 15, 2017

Transcript of Ambush Interview of Senate President Koko Pimentel III

On the junking of the impeachment complaint against President Duterte

SP Pimentel: Regarding the House decision on the impeachment complaint, we have no other choice but to respect it because in the first place, they were the ones who examined thoroughly and in detail the impeachment complaint. I have not yet even seen the impeachment complaint kasi in the impeachment process, the senators sit as judges, hence we should really be passive. Just await the decision of the prosecutors that should be the House of Representatives. Let us respect their decision.

Q: Majority daw kasi ng congressmen allies ng Duterte administration kaya expected?

SP: Impeachment, para po malaman ng ating mga kababayan, is a mix of politics and law so dahil nakararami sa house ang mga supporters ni President Duterte, we consider that to be expected. But I'm sure, since kailangan din ng legal basis, I'm sure na meron din silang point. Meron din silang good reason why they rejected the impeachment complaint. Maybe it was not sufficient in form, mali po ang form, or maybe they found it insufficient in substance sa pagbasa nila. Sabi nila, this is not worth our time, to waste time on such a complaint for impeachment.

On the transfer of Napoles

SP: The place of the detention of a detainee is addressed to the sound discretion of the court which has jurisdiction over the person of the accused but in the case of Napoles, marami yata yan so they have to sort out the complexity. There are different divisions of the Sandiganbayan involved so dapat meron silang unanimity kung saan nilagay yung detainee.

Q: Is it too early for this kind of development?

SP: yung transfer, tama rin yun kasi yung correctional institute for women is for those who have been convicted with finality. Since naoverturn yun, then she is just a detention prisoner. But the complexity of her case is marami pang courts which have jurisdiction over her person being an accused before the court. All of these courts must decide where to put her.

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