Alvarez feels no pressure in processing impeach raps vs Morales

House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez. (Photo: Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez/Facebook)

MANILA – Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Wednesday said he feels no pressure from President Rodrigo Duterte to process the looming impeachment complaint against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

This, despite President Duterte’s plan to file impeachment raps against Ombudsman Morales and Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Alvarez invoked the separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches.

“Para sa akin (For me), I don’t consider it a pressure. In the first place, I do not work for the President; I work for the Republic of the Philippines,” Alvarez said in a press conference.

Alvarez said if President Duterte intends to pursue his ouster bid against Morales, it will be treated like an “impeachment complaint filed by an ordinary citizen before Congress.”

The Speaker also reiterated that the impeachment proceedings are not being used as means to stifle dissent against the administration.

Alvarez said the House of Representatives is simply performing its constitutional mandate in processing all the verified impeachment complaints filed before it.

“That is the most unfair statement because first of all, it is a constitutional process… It (the impeachment process) is legal,” Alvarez said.

Last week, President Rodrigo Duterte challenged Supreme Court Chief Justice Sereno and Ombudsman Morales to resign with him.

Duterte has also expressed his plan to create a commission investigating corruption anomalies at the Office of the Ombudsman.