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Wednesday, August 24, 2005
House votes to tackle prejudicial issues
MANILA -- An opposition attempt to oust President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for alleged electoral fraud suffered a setback when her opponents lost an initial vote on how to handle the impeachment complaints.
Voting 54-24 with three abstentions, the House of Representatives justice committee decided there were "prejudicial questions" that stopped them from immediately hearing the three complaints against her.
Opposition legislators believe the vote was a prelude to the committee eventually deciding to hear what is believed to be the weakest complaint, even though the opposition has threatened a walkout if it does.
Committee vice chairman Edcel Lagman said the result means the body will first have to decide if it can tackle all three complaints at once, or if one complaint should take precedence with the other two set aside.
Impeachment proceedings cannot be initiated against the same person more than once within a period of one year.
Opposition legislator Alan Peter Cayetano said the vote will allow the Arroyo camp to further delay the impeachment proceedings. "I think it's more of a setback for the Filipino people," he said.
"We can expect massive delays. We can expect additional questions instead of going straight to the question (of whether Arroyo can be impeached)," Cayetano said.
Arroyo has been under fire since last June when an audiotape surfaced in which a woman sounding like her apparently tells an election official to fix the outcome of last year's presidential election.
Arroyo has said she erred in calling an electoral official before all the votes were counted but has denied any wrongdoing and insisted that she will not step down.
The House committee must decide which of the three complaints filed by lawyers Oliver Lozano and Jose Rizalino Lopez and by the opposition should be tackled, whether the panel will consolidate the Lozano complaint with the amended one or whether it will consolidate the three complaints as one.
Former House speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella, who was invited to guide members of the committee in the hearing, proposed that the panel should establish the form and substance of each and every complaint.
Iloilo Representative Rolex Suplico said the committee should merge the three complaints into one because if they will pick one, it would be tantamount to the dismissal of the two others, which is not allowed under the rules on impeachment.
Prior to the voting, Lagman put in motion the debate on the prejudicial questions before the House justice committee will determine the complaints' sufficiency.
However, Northern Samar Representative Harlin Abayon and Representative Eduardo Gullas (Cebu, first district) asked the committee to address first as to which of three complaints should it tackle so that the panel would not waste its time.
In addition to vote fraud, the other two complaints also raised offenses such as involvement in illegal gambling by Arroyo's family, anomalous contracts, human rights abuses and other matters.
After the justice committee rules that an impeachment complaint is sufficient in form and substance, it sends the case to the entire House.
The House then votes whether to send the case for trial in the Senate or upper house. A two-thirds vote of the 23-member Senate would then be needed to convict her and remove her from office.
The election official allegedly heard on the wiretapped conversations, Virgilio Garcillano, has apparently left the country, according to immigration officials. He went into hiding after the tapes emerged. (Sun.Star Cebu/JFF/AFP/Sunnex)
(August 24, 2005 issue)
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