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Tuesday, September 06, 2005
House rejects return of impeach report to committee
MANILA -- The House of Representatives rejected late Monday night a motion by an opposition congressman to return to the justice committee its report on the impeachment charges against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano had moved that the House return the justice committee report recommending the dismissal of the three impeachment complaints filed against Arroyo but majority of the congressmen, who are allied with the administration, voted against the move.
After the voting on Cayetano's motion, the House suspended the session close to midnight Monday.
The session resumed a few minutes after midnight Tuesday, with congressmen set to vote on whether to approve the justice committee report.
Cayetano had questioned the manner of the approval of the justice committee report, which appeared to be done in a hurry and without it being tackled in a hearing.
The committee presented its report to the plenary Monday afternoon to be voted on by the 236 members of the House of Representatives.
The justice panel junked the impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Jose Rizalino Lopez and the amended version by the opposition because the original complaint filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano barred the two cases. It, subsequently, dismissed the Lozano complaint for "lack of substance".
Proponents of the amended complaint branded the committee report as "a product of the alleged cover up" between President Arroyo and her allies in the Lower House to save her from the case while administration congressmen insisted that the committee's decision was based on the existing rules on impeachment.
Camarines Sur Representative Arnulfo Fuentebella, who is one of the vice chairs of the justice committee, resigned his post in the panel in protest of the committee report. He subsequently signed the amended case even if it would not get the support of 79 congressmen.
Fuentebella said the panel closed a channel that would have allowed people to know truth when it railroaded the report.
He said by junking the impeachment complaints, the administration congressmen in the committee did not save President Arroyo from the case but only put her in an even "worse" situation because the allegations against her would go unanswered.
He reminded his colleagues that they are in Congress not "to protect the President but the Filipino nation."
Cayetano presented in the plenary "pre-fabricated" election returns (ERs) allegedly used by the Arroyo camp to cheat in last year's presidential elections.
He said the alleged election fraud that favors the President specifically transpired in the provinces of Pampanga, Cebu, Iloilo and Bohol. He also played the controversial "Hello Garci tapes" that contained conversations between Arroyo and an official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) believed to be former commissioner Virgilio Garcillano on the rigging of last year's presidential elections.
He also narrated three laws President Arroyo violated when she talked to Garcillano at the height of the canvassing of presidential votes.
Cavite Representative Gilbert Remulla, in a privilege speech, asked for the resignation of Immigration Commissioner Alipio Fernandez and Air Transportation Office (ATO) Chief Nilo Jatico for their failure to stop Garcillano's clandestine departure.
Remulla also castigated the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) for its failure to locate the former Comelec official. He said the House committee on public information will continue to look for and bring Garcillano to Congress so he could shed light on the alleged election fraud.
Representatives Teodoro Locsin of Makati City and Antonino Roman of Bataan vowed not to sign the committee report. It was not yet known as of late Monday night if Locsin would support the opposition's amended complaint.
Roman, in rejecting the committee report, denounced the committee's use of the separate filing of the three complaints as the reason for dismissing them.
San Juan Representative Ronaldo Zamora appealed to administration congressmen to sign the amended complaint so that the President could answer the allegations against her.
Party-list Representatives Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna and Loretta Ann Rosales of Akbayan criticized human rights violations and political killings under the Arroyo administration.
Sorsogon Representative Francis Escudero announced earlier in the plenary that they failed to gather the 79 signatures needed to have their amended impeachment complaint against President Arroyo transmitted to the Senate for trial.
Escudero, however, said the impeachment process can still go on as they can still veto the House justice committee report on the impeachment hearings it held.
Some administration congressmen denied that cheating in last year's elections happened in their districts. They did not avail of their privilege speech to pave way for the speedy voting on the committee report.
At the start of the debate, Alagad party-list Representative Rodante Marcoleta criticized former Social Welfare secretary Corazon Soliman, who was seated beside former President Corazon Aquino, movie actress Susan Roces, other members of the so-called Hyatt 10, and other pro-impeachment leaders for accusing him of "conspiring with Malacañang to endorse the Lozano complaint."
Marcoleta denied Soliman's charges and threatened to sue the former Cabinet secretary.
Aquino, Roces, and evangelist Eddie Villanueva witnessed the plenary deliberations on the report of the justice panel. The pro-impeachment leaders were seated together at the gallery of the House session hall.
The former president appealed to the congressmen and to the public to support the impeachment case against Arroyo. She was praying that the amended complaint would get the support of 79 congressmen.
She said she would lead a march to the Batasan Pambansa Tuesday to convince the congressmen to sign the amended complaint. She also supported the cause of the Bukluran Para sa Katotohanan, which is aimed at finding the truth behind the allegations against the President.
Aquino endorsed the ouster of President Arroyo "through peaceful and constitutional means" to resolve the current political crisis in the country.
She said she was disappointed by how the House justice panel handled the impeachment proceedings but she was hoping that things will work out for the good of the Filipino people.
While congressmen were debating on the committee report, various anti-Arroyo groups staged a protest outside the Batasan Pambansa in support to the transmittal of the amended complaint to the Senate.
Some 300 policemen were deployed inside and outside Batasan Pambansa to secure the area. Several soldiers were placed on standby to assist the policemen for any eventuality.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Vidal Querol said he ordered his men in the field to observe maximum tolerance to prevent the repeat of a clash between policemen and anti-Arroyo protestors last Wednesday that resulted in the wounding of more than 20 people, including a boy.
The military said it has put on standby a battalion Civil Disturbance Management soldiers who are ready to augment the policemen in case of massive rallies.
Captain Ramon Zagala, of the military's National Capital Region Command (NCRCom), said the soldiers would not be armed with firearms but with helmets, truncheons, and shields.
Zagala also said they have not received any information of a plot from the New People's Army (NPA) to take advantage of the present situation.
The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) appealed for public sobriety amidst the impeachment proceedings in the House against President Arroyo.
Brigadier General Jose Angel Honrado, military spokesman, said the people should be circumspect over their actions so that they would not be misled by sectors advocating instability.
"Our people should not entertain rumors and unverified information as it will only add to the tension and political instability in the country. What will suffer most is our economy," he said.
The military has vowed to respect the people's freedom of expression but Honrado said: "If violence breaks out as a result of the outcome of the ongoing impeachment hearings, the AFP is ready to restore order and uphold the law." (JFF/Sunnex)
(September 6, 2005 issue)
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