|
Thursday, August 18, 2005
No decision reached on 3 impeach raps
MANILA -- After three days of hearings on the impeachment complaints filed against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the House justice committee did not reach a decision on which of the three cases should be tackled by the body.
During Wednesday's hearing, all members of the committee finished stating their different positions on the issue and they agreed to vote on it in the next hearing set for Tuesday next week.
Some congressmen wanted to hear the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano because it was lodged ahead of the complaint filed by another lawyer, Jose Rizalino Lopez, and the amended case filed by the opposition.
Others proposed to consolidate the complaints into one while some argued that the justice committee should begin determining the sufficiency in form and substance of the three complaints.
Before House justice panel chair Simeon Datumanong dismissed the hearing at 4 p.m. Wednesday, the committee allowed former House speaker Noli Fuentabella to speak up on the matter in order to guide the committee members in their vote.
Fuentabella advised the panel members to be liberal in their approach to the proceedings. He said the 1987 Constitution allows proceedings on the three impeachment complaints as long as the accused, in this case President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, has not yet been arraigned for the case.
He said the word "complaint" is different from "proceedings" as stated under the law.
At the start of the hearing, Sorsogon Representative Francis Escudero questioned before the panel the legality of the raid conducted by joint military and police authorities on a house of a former policeman in San Mateo, Rizal Tuesday night that yielded boxes of original and photocopied election returns and other documents with Jose Pidal signatures.
The raiding team, composed of operatives of the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (Isafp) and PNP-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, also confiscated posters of Senators Panfilo Lacson, Jose "Jinggoy" Estrada, and other opposition personalities when they swooped down on the house occupied by certain Segundo Taboyoyong, a former police handwriting expert, who worked for the opposition in last year's elections.
Taboyoyong was not in the house during the raid.
Datumanong promised Escudero that the committee would ask the intelligence service and the CIDG to explain the incident.
A report said military intelligence and CIDG operatives raided Tabayoyong's house situated in Our Lady of Peace Village, Barangay Santo Niño, San Mateo, Rizal, and seized what the opposition claimed as "prefabricated" election returns (ERs) used by the Arroyo administration to cheat in the 2004 elections.
The ERs were reportedly to be introduced by the opposition as evidence in the impeachment proceedings against Arroyo.
Opposition Representatives Allan Peter Cayetano, Darlene Antonino-Custodio, and Emmanuel Jose Villanueva presented in a press conference four pieces of alleged tampered ERs from Las Pinas, Pampanga, Iloilo and Bohol.
Cayetano said the ERs would translate to at least six million "tampered" votes.
He said they were forced to come out with the ERs to show to the majority congressmen and to the public that they have documentary evidence to prove their charges of electoral fraud against Arroyo, which is why they want the impeachment case to prosper and a trial held to allow Arroyo to answer the charges against her.
The three lawmakers said the colors of the ink used and the size of thumb marks in the ERs were "anomalous".
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita denied any Malacañang hand on a raid in San Mateo where alleged pieces of evidence against President Arroyo were confiscated. He said all he knows is that the documents and items confiscated were election paraphernalia.
Ermita said it is unfair to even link Malacañang or President Arroyo to the raid in an alleged effort to weaken the impeachment case against the President. "It's so easy to throw the blame at the Palace, but I think it's unfair," he added.
He said it is difficult to comment based merely on the claims of the opposition since he does not know the full details of the alleged six million votes. He said it is also expected that the opposition would claim that these are proof of alleged election fraud since their main goals is to impeach Arroyo.
He added that the more important thing is for the "pieces of evidence" to be properly scrutinized and submitted to the right forum.
Ermita reiterated that Arroyo submitted herself to the impeachment process and she should be given due process and her rights as an accused, like the right to appoint her own private legal counsels and for these counsels to defend her and use legal tactics to protect her rights and defend her, should be upheld.
During the impeachment hearings, the administration congressmen maintained that the committee should resolve first the "prejudicial" question as to which of three impeachment complaints filed against the President should be deliberated upon.
Antipolo City Representative Victor Sumulong said no one should be blamed except the opposition if the amended complaint would be dismissed because they resorted to the "law of the street", which is "an extra-constitutional mean", in the hope that they would force President Arroyo to resign.
Sumulong asked the justice committee to hear the Lozano complaint and that the Lopez complaint and the amended one should be treated separately.
Nueva Ecija Representative Rodolfo Antonino said the one-year prohibition in the Constitution should be recognized in the filing of an impeachment complaint. He said the opposition just used the word amended "to evade such a rule."
Zamboanga del Sur Representative Antonio Cerilles said the panel need not hear the amended complaint because Lozano claimed that his complaint could stand alone to impeach the President.
Mandaluyong City Representative Benjamin "Benhur" Abalos Jr., for his part, said there would be no debate on the issue had the opposition agreed to use the rules on impeachment prepared by the House committee on rules and not the one used in the impeachment of former President Joseph Estrada during the 11th Congress.
Davao del Sur Representative Douglas Cagas said the committee should not ignore the difference in time when the three complaints were filed because like in any other court, a case can be dismissed due to technicalities.
Cagayan de Oro City Representative Constantino Jaraula proposed that the charge of "betrayal of public trust" against the President in the amended complaint be incorporated with the Lozano complaint. He said the other complaints, aside from the betrayal of public trust, should be treated as separate cases.
Cebu City Representative Antonio Cuenco said the three complaints should be given due course.
Alagad party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta, who endorsed the Lozano impeachment complaint, said he endorsed the complaint because it is the legal and proper way to do so.
Marcoleta said Congress is the proper venue for the people to file or air a complaint against President Arroyo and not in the streets as what the opposition did.
From the opposition, Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III accused the administration congressmen of resorting to technicalities "just to save President Arroyo from the case."
He challenged the President's allies in the Lower House to begin with the hearing of the three complaints if they really want to know the truth behind the allegations.
Cavite Representative Crispin Remulla said since the three impeachment complaints have been filed in one day, the panel should merge the complaints into one and deliberate on it.
Muntinlupa City Representative Rufino Rozzano Biazon asked his colleagues to give the amended complaint a chance to be heard so that President Arroyo can refute the charges against her.
Valenzuela City Representative Antonio Serapio said the Constitution allows the amended complaint as long as President Arroyo has not been arraigned for the case.
Anakpawis party-list Representative Crispin Beltran criticized Sumulong for branding the people power as "unconstitutional". He said like the impeachment proceedings, the call for President Arroyo's resignation during the past months is the right of every individual under the Constitution if he or she thinks that "the President is already incapable to govern the country."
Paranaque City Representative Roilo Golez said the public knows that the justice committee plays "fiscal" in the impeachment hearing of President Arroyo and role of the fiscal is to accept and strengthen the case and not to weaken it. He said the people would not allow technicalities like a difference in the time in filing of the complaints to decide the country's fate.
Cibac party-list Representative Emmanuel Villanueva asked the administration congressmen to withdraw the "prejudicial" question and let the people decide as to which of three complaints should be heard.
Iloilo Fifth District Representative Rolex Suplico said the Constitution clearly states that an amended complaint can substitute the original complaint filed by Lozano. He asked the administration congressmen not to change the rule "in the name of the game."
Suplico said the motion to strike out the Lopez and amended complaints and the "prejudicial question" of Albay Representative Edcel Lagman were "pleadings that are being prohibited by the rules on impeachment."
An exasperated Senator Joker Arroyo, meanwhile, reiterated Wednesday his advice to opposition lawmakers at the House of Representatives to wake up and work on the 79 votes.
An impeachment complaint must garner 79 votes, or one-third of the membership of the House, for it to be transmitted to the Senate for trial.
Arroyo criticized the "dissipated" minority in the House for "allowing itself to be baited and sucked into the endless ad infinitum debates on the impeachment process instead of working backdoor to gain the unflinching support of 79 congressmen."
The senator noted with disgust how the second hearing of the House committee on justice on the impeachment complaints against President Arroyo finished without any success.
But Arroyo said it's not yet too late for the opposition to get the 79 votes. Instead of bickering, they must focus their energies to convince those who are still mulling to sign the impeachment against the President.
"Gapangan lang naman ito (You work on it on the ground). Yung kay (In the case of) former President Joseph Estrada, we started with 27 signatures with the goal of reaching 79. The 27 congressmen who we called then the impeachers were assigned to get the votes of others. All we had to do was work, work, work. Each of the 27 lawmakers were able to get one signature so that was already 54. Until we reached the 79. The key here is for them to explain to the members to work," Arroyo said.
Arroyo, who led moves in the House to impeach Estrada in 1999, said the key is to get the 79 votes, plain and simple.
"With solid 79 or one-third of the House membership going for impeachment, the President can be impeached or charged or be tried by the Senate regardless of how the two-thirds of the House think or do. Short of that, the opposition can go hoarse, can present all the arguments, still the impeachment will go nowhere," Arroyo said. (JFF/JMR/JPM/Sunnex)
(August 18, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor. Click here.
Join the Sun.Star message board. Click here. |
|
|
|
[return to top]
[home]
|
|
Cebu City loses P232 million in land swap