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Monday, June 26, 2006
New impeach case uses rash of killings
MANILA -- Hundreds of activists held a vigil outside Congress as they prepared to file a new impeachment case against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo Monday, when a one-year limit on filing complaints ends.
They lined up, armed with pillows and sleeping mats, before the door of a House official assigned to receive impeachment complaints.
President Arroyo left Sunday for Europe, where she will visit the Vatican for a brief audience with Pope Benedict XVI, bearing news of her abolition of the death penalty.
Government troops and police forces were placed on alert across the country, a customary practice when the President goes abroad.
Her advisers are preparing to use an opposition move to fight a new impeachment complaint against President Arroyo: a case filed at the Supreme Court last year by Cebu Representative Clavel Asas-Martinez.
Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez Sr. said Sunday he expects the new complaint to be dismissed by the House of Representatives, for lack of jurisdiction.
He cited the assertion of lawyer Romulo Macalintal that the filing of a new impeachment complaint against President Arroyo is barred, because of an unresolved case filed by Martinez and other minority lawmakers.
Martinez and company had questioned the House of Representatives' dismissal of the first impeachment complaint in 2005.
Numbers game
"I am not oversold to that theory. But it is worth exploring because there are some legal bases for it," Gonzalez said. "Any defense will be useful."
Gonzalez also pointed out that whether or not the matter of filing a second impeachment is premature, the fact remains that impeachment is a numbers game.
Martinez, the only House representative from Cebu who voted for President Arroyo's impeachment last year, begged off from an interview.
For their part, Cebu City's representatives to the House believe that since it has no basis and would not warrant the President's removal from office, the impeachment complaint that will be filed today is again unlikely to prosper.
Deputy House Speaker Raul del Mar said Arroyo can't be held liable for the political killings in the country since she is not directly responsible for them. Complaints about the unresolved killings of journalists and activists should be directed to the Philippine National Police and not Arroyo, he added.
For Representative Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south), the second impeachment complaint is still not based on impeachable offenses.
"There is no legal or factual basis for their complaint. It will truly fail. I doubt that they can get 20 congressmen to sign. They are aiming for the moon and the stars. They won't get there, far from it," he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Citizens' case
Del Mar said: "Offhand, there really is no basis, but let's see if they will have additional arguments."
Representative Antonio Yapha (Cebu, 3rd district) warned that an impeachment will project an image of instability that will shake the economy and drive away investors.
While admitting he has yet to read the new complaint, Yapha said: "I'm not for it, kay administration baya ko (I belong to the administration)."
A group of private individuals and organizations launched last week the "Citizens' Impeachment Case" in preparation for the filing of a new impeachment complaint against Arroyo on Monday.
Charges of condoning political killings in the country and suppressing the opposition will be added to allegations of electoral fraud and corruption, which were the bases of an impeachment complaint dismissed by the House of Representatives last year on a technicality.
No malice
In a phone interview, Cuenco challenged the complainants to present evidence that would directly link the President to the killings.
"Their complaint is not based on impeachable offenses. The violations must be malicious. In issuing Executive Order 464, did she exercise malice? What law did she violate?" Cuenco asked.
The President issued last year EO 464, which prohibited officials of the executive department, including generals and other senior officials, from appearing and testifying in congressional hearings without her consent.
Her lawyer, Macalintal, recently filed a manifestation before the Lower House that no impeachment proceedings could be initiated against President Arroyo, until after the Supreme Court rules on Congresswoman Martinez's petition.
"The House cannot acquire jurisdiction over a new impeachment case because the first impeachment proceedings have not yet reached finality," he said. He noted that the SC has two years within which to resolve cases filed before it.
Standoff
House Minority Leader Francis Escudero disputed Macalintal's view that the filing of the second impeachment complaint would violate the one-year ban on a new complaint against the same individual.
Escudero noted that the first impeachment complaint has been terminated in the House and that the High Court has not issued a temporary restraining order on the filing of a new impeachment complaint.
President Arroyo survived an impeachment attempt on vote-rigging and corruption allegations in September, when her dominant allies in the House of Representatives blocked three complaints on a technicality.
This time around, the complainants will include relatives of several activists killed since Arroyo took power, said Leah Navarro, who speaks for the complainants.
Opposition lawmakers said they will also charge Arroyo with attempts-later judged unconstitutional by the Supreme Court-to crack down on anti-government protests and block investigations into alleged wrongdoing.
While refusing to quit, Arroyo has denied any wrongdoing. (LCR/Sunnex/AP/With MBG)
(June 26, 2006 issue)
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