Tuesday, February 26, 2008 Nograles defends Arroyo
HOUSE Speaker Prospero Nograles said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will not be impeached for admitting that she approved the anomalous US$329 million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with ZTE Corporation to save the country's relationship with China.
"It's not valid because she (Arroyo) wanted to preserve good relations and make sure nobody will lose face. That's diplomacy in foreign relations," he said.
The NBN deal was signed as early as April 22, 2007, but it was only canceled on September 22, 2007, a few days after the Supreme Court (SC) suspended the deal because of the controversy surrounding it.
The President informed Chinese President Hu Jintao of her decision only on October 2, 2007.
"She (Arroyo) stopped the deal, didn't she? But she had to cushion the impact first," said Nograles who replaced Pangasinan Representative Jose de Venecia Jr. who was ousted for his son Joey's testimonies about the anomalous deal.
Nograles also said Senate President Manuel "Manny" Villar Jr. -- who claimed that Arroyo's admission could be a ground for impeachment -- should wait for a complaint to reach the Senate before talking about it because the filing "is within the exclusive prerogative of the House and not the Senate, where he is president."
"Perhaps it may be prudent for his (Villar) honor to wait if and when actually reaches the Senate for trial," he said.
Opposition congressmen insisted that the President's admission was the strongest ground to impeach her once the one-year ban on filing lapses this September.
Parañaque Representative Roilo Golez, spokesman of the House minority bloc, said the President's admission "will take its very heavy political toll."
"Now very clearly, she (Arroyo) is directly in the ZTE picture by her own admission," he said, noting that it was the President who gave herself away.
Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teodoro Casiño said the President's admission is "a textbook case of betrayal of public trust."
Casiño, however, said by the time that an impeachment complaint is filed against Arroyo, "there might be no President Arroyo to impeach anymore if she will resign or be ousted via people power."
Anak Mindanao party-list Representative Mujiv Hataman said a presidential snap election also remains an option "with the condition that a genuine reform will be effected in the Commission on Elections (Comelec)."
He said the election body could be reorganized to avoid a repeat of the massive electoral fraud in 2004 before holding a snap election as proposed by Nueva Ecija Representative Edno Joson in his House Bill 3589.
"The snap election is a measure of accountability and promoting political stability. It is time to bring the power of the people back to their bosoms," said Joson who is asking Congress to allot P2 billion to elect a new President that would serve Arroyo's two remaining years in office.
Joson echoed the call of the late senator Raul Roco, his political ally, who first made the call in 2004 amid allegations of cheating against Arroyo.
He noted that in 1986, a snap election was held to find out whether former President Ferdinand Marcos still had the people's support amidst the growing opposition to his government.
"The charges then against Marcos seem to be replicating in President Arroyo's administration. People are out in the street protesting against corruption or cronyism, human rights violation, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial killings and political kidnappings," he said. (WV/Sunnex)
