Palace still confident that impeachment vs. PNoy won’t prosper

Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda

MANILA – Malacañang remains confident that President Benigno Aquino III will survive the impeachment cases against him.

The president will get through the complaints even without the help of allies in the House of Representatives, according to Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda in a press briefing yesterday.

“When we say confident, then there’s assumption… there’s this implication that we’re moving heaven and earth to do that. What we’re saying is we believe that the President has not committed any impeachable offense and I’m sure… when they go through sufficiency of substance, when they go through the allegations of the impeachment complaints… they will see that there is no merit (to allegations) the President has committed an impeachable offense,” Lacierda said.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision, declaring  some parts of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to be unconstitutional, two lawmakers have filed impeachment complaints against the president.

Meanwhile, another impeachment complaint was filed against Aquino in connection with the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.

“We certainly do not agree with the allegations in the three impeachment complaints. However, there is a process in the House, and that’s a process dictated by the Constitution, so we respect the process,” Lacierda said.

He also added that the administration is more focused on addressing the most pressing concerns in the country.

“As to ‘worried’? We’re not concerned about the impeachment complaint proceedings right now, although it is a very important proceeding in the House. What we’re more concerned with is really how to address all the concerns of the country that affect our countrymen,” he said.