Impeachment a numbers game

Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano on Thursday filed an impeachment complaint against President Rody Duterte for culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and other high crimes. Is Alejano tilting at windmills like Don Quijote? But Don Quijote was only attacking imaginary enemies.

Solicitor General Jose Calida said he wasn’t surprised with Magdalo’s move as Alejano “is a toady of his braggart patron--Sen. (Antonio) Trillanes IV.”

Calida said the two are not in the league of Don Quijote. “They must be dreaming. They are not even in the league of Don Quijote. Impeachment won’t fly. It will crash like a rudderless plane flown by witless pilots,” Calida said.

Remember, Don Quijote was badly mauled by the sails of the windmills that he perceived to be the arms of giants. Alejano said the filing of the impeachment complaint, the first against President Duterte, was proof that there was no destabilization plot against him and they have “no extra-legal means to oust him.”

But he said his group was hoping the complaint would serve as a vehicle for the people to voice out their opposition to his alleged abuses and crimes.

He urged Filipinos not to wait for the killings in the war against drugs to reach 20,000 or 50,000 before they air their opposition against the president. The last figure was more than 8,000 dead in the war against drugs.

Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said the Magdalo should not be mocked because the impeachment complaint against President Duterte “is the constitutional way of booting out a sitting president.” “At least this time they are not doing an Oakwood,” he said.

But Lacson said the impeachment complaint needs the votes of one-third of the House members to be sent to the Senate for trial and at least 16 of 24 sitting senators must vote to convict.

As usual, an impeachment proceeding is a numbers game. And the administration has the “super majority.”