The Manila Times
MANILA, Philippines — A member of the justice committee of the House of Representatives said they have "high confidence" they could reach the required 106 votes to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte following the overwhelming evidence presented during the hearings. "That is a number that is not difficult to surmount; in the end, we will let the members decide for themselves based on their conscience and the evidence presented. But I am quite certain, based on the evidence of unexplained wealth, confidential funds, and the threats against the president—they can just choose from those. I think they will be convinced eventually," Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon said in a mix of Filipino and English during a press briefing on Saturday. Ridon also added that the misuse of confidential funds—the P448 million ordered returned by the Commission on Audit and the P6.77 billion inflows—and the threats Duterte made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez will be consolidated into at least four articles of impeachment approved by the committee on Monday. Ridon also said the composition of the House Prosecution Team was now being discussed, with several names being floated, some having been included in the first team of prosecutors in the voided impeachment case of Duterte in the 19th Congress. These include Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, justice panel chairman, and Representatives Joel Chua, Jonathan Keith Flores, Ysabel Zamora, Lordan Suan, Jose Manuel Diokno and Leila de Lima. Ridon also challenged Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte to prove his claims that several lawmakers were being called to vote for the impeachment or they will be defunded. " I don't think there's any reward needed to impeach the vice president (because) the evidence is clear," Ridon said.
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