By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

Magdalo Party-list Rep. Gary Alejano filed an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte, yesterday morning.
The 16-page complaint was filed before the House of Representatives Office of the Secretary-General on the grounds of culpable violation of the constitution, engaging in bribery, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and “other high crimes.”
The case stemmed over allegations of giving up the country’s sovereign rights over the Benham Rise against China.
He explained the president may have violated the 1987 Constitution for refusing to take China to task for its recent incursions in Benham Rise, an underwater landmass located off the coast of Quezon and Aurora provinces, and declared by the United Nations to be part of the Philippine continental shelf in 2012.
Besides the issue on the Benham Rise, Alejano also accused Duterte of committing “illegal acts” as mayor of Davao City through his alleged involvement in the killing of more than 1,400 people, as the supposed leader of the Davao Death Squad.
Following reports surrounding the impeachment complaint, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella stated the move against the president seems like an “outline for a destabilization plot against the administration.”
Abella denied the administration made “secret agreements” with China over the issue of the Benham Rise.
Alejano, a native of Sipalay City, Negros Occidental, and former captain of the Philippine Marine Corps, was one of the military officers involved in the Oakwood Mutiny in 2003, along with Senator Antonio Trillanes IV and Bureau of Customs chief Nicanor Faeldon./WDJ