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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Lawyer files anew impeach raps v. Arroyo
MANILA -- Lawyer Oliver Lozano filed again on Monday, the first day of the resumption of Congress sessions, his impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Lozano decided to file the 55-page impeachment complaint, which the House of Representatives rejected last year, despite calls from members of the opposition asking him to withhold the filing of the complaint.
Minority congressmen had reportedly asked the lawyer not to hastily file the complaint since the one-year ban remains in effect and would only be lifted by July 26 or one year after the first complaint against the President was referred to the House committee on justice.
Members of the minority had in fact held a meeting Monday at the Sulu hotel in Quezon City, and Lozano claimed he went there to consult with them regarding his position.
He claimed to have waited for them to ask him to join the meeting but he was just ignored. And since he had been excluded from the meeting, and felt insulted at the same time, he decided not to confer with them anymore and instead proceeded to the Batasan Pambansa to file his complaint.
Lozano said last week he was willing to defer the filing of his complaint pending the result of his meeting with members of the opposition.
Prior to filing the complaint, Lozano claimed he had explained to House Minority Leader Francis Escudero that he would not be violating the one-year ban on impeachment cases if he would proceed with Monday's filing.
He cited a previous Supreme Court (SC) ruling, which said the prohibition was on the "multiple initiation of an impeachment proceeding" and not on the filing of the case, to back his contention.
House Secretary General Roberto Nazareno said Lozano re-filed the same impeachment case he lodged against the President last year. He received the complaint at 11:16 a.m. Monday.
Nazareno said the resolutions of endorsement or signatories were the same as last year. Although he had already received the complaint, Nazareno said he would inquire with the House committee on rules what to do with what he called as "a defective complaint."
And while Lozano proceeded with his plan, opposition legislators expressed dismay over the lawyer's decision.
They threatened to sue him for using their signatures when he hastily refiled the complaint against Arroyo.
Lozano explained that the early filing of the complaint "is not premature", as claimed by some sectors, because "it (impeachment procedure) does not state that no complaint can be filed within a period of one year from the filing of the first complaint."
He said his intention in filing the complaint was to stop the rumored coup being plotted against the Arroyo administration. To stop this continued unrest, he added, it would be better for Congress to finally resolve the accusations of cheating, lying, and stealing against the President through legal means.
The complaint Lozano filed was just a photocopy of the amended complaint that the opposition filed last year.
The complaint, prepared by Roque and Butuyan Law Offices, also contains the signatures of the 28 opposition congressmen who endorsed the complaint when it was filed last year.
Escudero, in an interview, said the opposition was dismayed by what Lozano had done.
"Ikinalulungkot namin ang kanyang ginawa (We are saddened by his move)," he said, adding they are not losing hope that the House would not act on the refiled complaint.
He also insisted that Lozano cannot use the signatures of those who endorsed the 2005 complaint.
"Pinag-aaralan na ng aming mga abugado kung ano ang maaaring isampa sa kanyang kaso (Our lawyers are studying what charges to file against him)," Escudero added.
At the same time, the minority leader said his colleagues are now studying the possibility of endorsing some amendments in the Rules of Procedures Governing Impeachment. (DBP/Sunnex)
(January 17, 2006 issue)
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