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Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Impeachment complaint filed against Arroyo
MANILA -- Civil society and militant groups filed Monday the second impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo with the House of Representatives.
The impeachment complaint was filed shortly after 8 a.m., one year after lawyer Oliver Lozano filed the first one, which the House has turned down on a technicality.
The 150-page complaint signed by at least 200 individuals, which included 25 pages of three major charges with each charge made up of two or more impeachable offense, was initially endorsed by House Minority Leader Francis Escudero and San Juan Representative Ronaldo Zamora.
Arroyo's lawyer and Malacañang, however, shrugged off the complaint describing it as a rehash of the case junked by the House last year and a political gimmick.
Opposition senators, for their part, said they hope the impeachment case would prosper.
The "Citizens' Impeachment Complaint" accuses the President of culpable violations of the 1987 Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, and betrayal of public trust.
In order to have it automatically proceed to the Senate for trial, the complaint needs the endorsement of 78 congressmen or one-third of the 234 members of the House.
Zamora and Escudero believe the number of complainants might reach to more than 300.
Zamora, head of the impeachment legal team, promised to produce the 51 congressmen who voted against the junking of the first impeachment complaint.
He just smiled when he was asked if he could ascertain that the minority would be able to reach the required number of endorsers.
"I can produce the 50 or 51. Actually, may plus plus pa nga iyan (that's plus plus)," Zamora told reporters in an interview.
Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said the impeachment process is a "numbers game" and is actually more of a "political process" than a legal one, as opposition congressmen have to compete with the numerical superiority of the majority.
In the 25-page complaint, the complainants included the killings of militants and journalists, the alleged cheating in the 2004 presidential elections, the P728 million-fertilizer scam, the alleged anomalous North Luzon Railway Project, the supposed involvement of the First Family in jueteng.
It also included the alleged Martial Law-type of governance by Arroyo with her issuance of Presidential Proclamation 1017 on the state of emergency imposed on the country during the aborted coup last Feb. 24; Executive Order 464 that prohibited government, police and military officials from attending congressional hearings without the permission of the President; and the calibrated preemptive response policy on anti-government rallies, portions of which were struck down as unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita dismissed as "a mere political gimmick" the latest impeachment complaint filed by the opposition against President Arroyo.
Ermita said he sees the filing of the complaint as a mere preparation for the upcoming State of the Nation Address of the President.
He said it is not surprising that the opposition proceeded with the complaint even if Arroyo is out on an official trip to Vatican, Italy and Spain.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, in a briefing in Vatican, said Arroyo is not letting the new complaint to distract her from her tasks.
Opposition senators are hopeful that the new impeachment complaint against Arroyo will prosper this time.
"I wish they will succeed this time. There will be another round of vote-buying with defendee and defender, it's anything goes. Only the people's vigilance can ensure truth and reject lies," said Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr.
Senator Sergio Osmeña III, on the other hand, said the filing of the second impeachment complaint will again escalate issues on the alleged irregularities and anomalies in the government.
"In a democracy, it's never a waste of time. In fact, it's a necessity to let people know the truth." (DBP/JMR/REC/MSN/Sunnex)
(June 27, 2006 issue)
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