Known allies of President Aquino dismissed calls for impeachment after the Supreme Court declared the unconstitutionality of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
According to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., the President cannot be impeached because the promulgation of the DAP program was done with clean and most sincere of intentions.
Marikina City Representative Miro Quimbo explained that even if the DAP has been declared and deemed unconstitutional, it will not serve as a ground for impeachment because it does not fall under the category of culpable violation of the Constitution.
Quimbo clarified that said violations must be intentional and done in grave abuse of office.
Aside from Belmonte and Quimbo, Akbayan Representative Walden Bello, Quezon City Representative Winston Castelo, and Eastern Samar Representative Ben Evardone also shared similar thoughts on the difficulty of filing an impeachment complaint against the President based on the decision of the High Court.