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Monday, September 05, 2005
Impeachment bloc gets last chance to compel trial
POLICE in Metro Manila went on full alert yesterday, ahead of expected anti-government protests and a stormy debate among lawmakers, who are to decide on the fate of impeachment charges against President Arroyo.
“At this time, nobody can claim early victory. Not the President, nor the opposition. Everything is still hanging,” said former congressman Eduardo Antonio Nachura of Western Samar.
Opposition congressmen need the support of 79 House members to overturn a report of the House justice committee, which dismissed last week all three complaints against Arroyo.
That number of signatures will also automatically transmit the case to the Senate for trial.
But the opposition also has the option to ask for an extension to get the required signatures or appeal to the Supreme Court, Nachura added.
As for Cebuanos in the House, Rep. Eduardo Gullas said his fellow majority member Rep. Antonio Yapha Jr. assured him he will remain with their group.
Mob control
The opposition has been wooing other House members to sign the amended impeachment complaint, and Yapha’s name was among those mentioned as potential swing votes.
More than 300 policemen will be deployed outside Congress today to keep order. A standby military force could be tapped if the protests get out of hand, after a clash between left-wing activists and riot police injured 26 people, mostly rallyists, at the gates of Congress last week.
The House of Representatives is scheduled to hold a plenary today to vote on the committee on justice’s report on the three impeachment complaints, all rejected last Wednesday.
The report is expected to be debated upon by the 236 members of the House.
Last day
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) will wait for the last day of the impeachment hearings before deciding whether to come up with an official statement or just keep mum on the issue.
Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal, who just arrived from Manila, yesterday said the CBCP has opted to wait for the results of the impeachment proceedings at the House, because they do not want to preempt anything.
Bishops
Vidal, a senior adviser of the CBCP, is concerned that if the church issues an official statement this soon, it might create chaos.
“We do not know what would happen. Some elements might enter and cause more trouble,” Vidal said.
The CBCP came out with a statement last July asking President Arroyo to “look deep in her heart” so she can come up with a good decision. They also urged her to also face impeachment proceedings.
Vidal yesterday clarified that he went to Manila not for a meeting supposedly called for by the CBCP but for his regular visit to Radyo Veritas to discuss the status of its facilities.
But he admitted that during a gathering, CBCP officials discussed the state of the nation.
Proceed
The prelate, however, is hoping that CBCP will call for a meeting this week after the plenary, since “there is a need for the people to know the truth.”
“We are not against President Arroyo. What we are after is the truth. We want to know the truth, that is why I hope that they will push through with the impeachment proceedings,” Cardinal Vidal said.
He also said it is time for lay people to act on what is happening to the country, but added that he does not approve of them marching on the streets.
“I am sad about what is happening now. I would like the people to act but I am afraid that they will go to the streets. I am afraid of a confrontation. We already gave them the direction. It’s up to them to act and to act wisely,” he said. LLV/(Sunnex)/With AIV |
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