All 215 impeachment complaint signatures legit – Escudero

Senate President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero   (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines — All 215 signatures of lawmakers in the fourth impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte appeared to be wet and legitimate, Senate President Chiz Escudero said on Monday. 

In a press conference, Escudero said they have already checked the legitimacy of each signature. 

“Visually, na-verify na ang lahat ng 215 signatures na wet signature nga. Tiningnan yan ng hindi bababa sa apat na tao na hindi bababa sa dalawang beses kada tao,” Escudero told reporters.

(Visually, we verified all 215 signatures, and we’ve seen that it’s all wet signatures. These were checked by not less than four people twice.)

“Yung initial na repaso nito, using a visual perusal [ay] wet signature lahat noong 215,” he added.

 (In the initial run, we checked it using visual perusal, and we were able to confirm that all 215 are wet signatures.)

Escudero, however, said they are set to procure an application that utilizes artificial intelligence in order to “further validate” whether or not signatures are, indeed, wet and not e-signatures. 

The Senate chief said it’s the Senate’s job to ensure and verify that all 215 are signatures penned by congressmen. 

Meanwhile, in the same presser, Escudero disclosed that they have already distributed a copy of the impeachment complaint to each senator, adding that it has already been uploaded to the upper chamber’s website, and accessible to the public.