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Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Opposition walks out; hearing suspended
MANILA (Updated 5:20 p.m.) -- Furor erupted among the opposition congressmen Tuesday when the House justice committee chairman terminated the debates on the impeachment complaints and called for a vote on which complaint to tackle ignoring a motion by the minority.
Surigao Representative Robert "Ace" Barbers was supposed to be give a speech on the side of the minority in as far as debates on the prejudicial questions are concerned.
However, instead of presenting arguments against the prejudicial questions, Barbers moved for the committee to call on former Social Welfare Secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman to appear before the committee and shed light on Malacanang's alleged "grand conspiracy" to rig the impeachment proceedings.
Earlier on, Soliman in a press conference said it was the President who instructed Presidential Political Adviser Gabriel Claudio to have Alagad party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta endorse the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano.
Barbers motion, which was duly seconded by Representative Joel Villanueva, was ignored by Datumanong and instead the latter proceeded with the calling for a vote on which complaint to tackle.
Emotions went high, the opposition congressmen were shouting calling for the chairman to rule on Barber's motion to the point that they moved for the adjournment of the hearing.
Pandemonium broke loose and the minority walked out and some congressmen even throw some papers on the air while the audience in the gallery reacted noisily.
Prior to the emotional suspension of the hearing, an earlier suspension was called after Negros Oriental Representative Jerome Paras raised a point of order in relation to the speech made by former House Speaker Arnulfo Fuentebella.
In what appeared to be a surprising development, Fuentebella, an administration congressman who abstained during the voting of the prejudicial questions, said only the amended complaint has satisfied the requirement of verification.
The rules on impeachment as well as the Constitution require that a verified complaint be filed against any impeachable official for it to be evaluated in sufficiency in form and substance.
Fuentebella said the complaints filed by lawyers Oliver Lozano and Jose Rizalino Lopez were not verified and should have not been referred to the committee for deliberation.
After the lawmaker from Camarines finished his speech, Paras immediately raised a point or order and called for the junking of the two other complaints.
Paras was cut off by Datumanong and the hearing was suspended. When the hearing resumes, Datumanong ruled that Paras' point of order is out of order.
He said the point of order is still premature since the committee has yet to discuss the sufficiency in form and substance of the complaint. (Sunnex)
(August 30, 2005 issue)
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