House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez is reportedly furious after Supermajority member, PBA Party-list Rep. Jericho “Koko” Nograles sabotaged the filing of the impeachment complaint against administration critic Vice President Leni Robredo Tuesday (May 2).
A source said that Nograles was the designated endorser of the complaint all along, and that it was the neophyte politiko himself who reached out to the Impeach Leni Team for this purpose.
In fact, only Nograles among the 293 congressman was given a copy of the impeachment complaint that day.
“He would not have been given a copy of the complaint had he not asked for it,” the source said.
The Impeach Leni Team is composed of the following: Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III, lawyers Tom Berenguer, Bruce Rivera, Ahmed Paglinawan and Trixie Cruz Angeles (Politiko’s former publisher), and professor Antonio Contreras.
On early Tuesday evening or after House reporters waited hours for the team to file a congressman-endorsed impeachment complaint against Robredo, Nograles surfaced at the media center to slag Rivera and Angeles for alleged misrepresentation. This, as he said that he was “shocked” to find his name on the complaint that was delivered to his office by the two.
Nograles’s theatrics did not sit well with Alvarez, who has made no bones about his desire to have the lady politiko impeached.
The source added that Nograles was also wrong in saying that the two lawyers misrepresented him. “Take note, it was only a draft complaint. It was not filed yet and thus, not formal.”
House rules say that an impeachment complaint must be backed by a congressman and submitted to the Office of the Secretary General for it to be deemed filed.
source: politics.com.ph