Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Congress dismisses impeach raps against Arroyo
MANILA, (Updated, 3:33 p.m.) -- Administration congressmen in the House of Representatives prevailed over their opposition counterparts Tuesday, throwing out all three impeachment complaints against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo despite warnings that the move could spark a new "people power" revolt.
The 236-seat House of Representatives--overwhelmingly dominated by pro-Arroyo legislators--voted to uphold the House justice
committee's decision to reject the complaints alleging Arroyo rigged last year's election, was involved in corruption and condoned human rights violations.
The close of the 23-hour marathon session showed 158 lawmakers voting for the dismissal of the impeachment complaints, 51 voting against it, and six abstaining.
The session--one of the longest ever--was marked by intense debate and impassioned pleas from opposition lawmakers for justice and fairness.
Although a victory for Arroyo, the decision could prolong the debilitating crisis that has gripped the Philippines since June and tainted the image of the US-trained economist who has tried to revive the flagging economy during 4 1/2 years in office.
House minority leader Francis Escudero, in a speech after the voting, accepted the results but clarified that they don't agree with it.
Escudero said the opposition still believes that the President has to answer all the allegations against her, from electoral fraud to massive corruption.
While the voting was ongoing inside the Batasan Pambansa session hall, a protest march against Arroyo led by former President Corazon Aquino and Susan Roces, widow of the late former opposition presidential candidate Fernando Poe Jr., was held outside.
Aquino and Roces were joined by Senators Panfilo Lacson and Ma. Ana. Consuelo "Jamby" Madrigal, former vice president Teofisto Guingona, televangelist Eduardo "Bro. Eddie" Villanueva, former social welfare secretary Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, and supporters from various sectors of society.
But anti-riot policemen, deployed about 10 meters from the House of Representatives, blocked the demonstrators' approach to the building.
Under the law, a third or 79 members of the ouse could overturn the committee decision and impeach Arroyo but pro-impeachment lawmakers acknowledged they don't have the number.
Arroyo's opponents say the impeachment process was the last legal avenue to press her to answer to the charges and close the political crisis.
Even moderate lawmakers have warned that suppressing the charges against Arroyo in Congress could spark another "people power" revolt like those that ousted two presidents in the past two decades - or inspire the ever-restive military to intervene.
"This is the last chance for us to pave the rule of law and the constitutional process," said opposition spokesman Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye criticized such warnings. "For as long as the congressional process is free, fair and transparent, people are expected to abide by the results," he said.
"To threaten our people with doomsday scenarios is an insult to our people and their political maturity," he added.
Metropolitan Manila police chief Vidal Querol said the capital's 16,000-strong police force was placed on full alert indefinitely starting late Sunday to safeguard law and order during this week's protests.
Anti-Arroyo protesters clashed with riot police last week, injuring 26 people.
Lawmakers from both camps used fiery rhetoric to explain their vote during the nationally televised event - some spicing up their speeches with quotes from the Bible, Shakespeare, Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels, and Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"I will never sell my soul to the devil," said Representative Robert "Ace" Barbers, alluding to allegations that Arroyo's camp offered money and government posts to get favorable votes from Congress.
Barbers said he would never accept such a bribe, citing a Shakespeare line in Juliet Caesar: "Let the Gods so speed me as I love the name of honor more than I fear death."
Representative Henedina Abad, who also backed efforts to impeach Arroyo, quoted Suu Kyi to encourage her pro-Arroyo colleagues to back off from her. "It is not power that corrupts but the fear of losing power," she said. "Let history judge as kindly, reject the committee report."
A religious lawmaker, Representative Bienvenido Abante Jr., loudly read passages from the Bible to warn anti-Arroyo legislators threatening to go the streets that they will be harshly judged by God.
But Representative Crispin Beltran, a left-wing labor leader who dumped Arroyo, firmly proclaimed: "Let's see each other in the streets." (AP/Sunnex)
(September 6, 2005 issue)
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