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Tuesday, October 09, 2007
Lawmaker bribed to support ‘weak’ Arroyo impeach raps
MANILA -- A militant congressman revealed that a close ally of Malacañang allegedly attempted to bribe him in exchange for endorsing the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
During Monday’s plenary debates, Anakpawis party-list Representative Crispin Beltran said he was offered P2 million last Friday, the same day that lawyer Rafael Pulido filed the complaint against the President.
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"I was offered P2 million," said Beltran who claimed that he was initially offered P1 million and later increased to P2 million.
According to him, he was approached twice last Friday -- in his residence in Bulacan province in the morning and inside the House session hall in the afternoon.
House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora also said that close allies of Malacañang have allegedly bribed at least six opposition congressmen in the amount of P1 million to P2 million and others with P10 million worth of projects in exchange for endorsing the impeachment complaint against the President.
“They have been offered various amounts, P1 million and P2 million plus P10 million in projects,” Zamora said.
Prior to Beltran’s revelation, Cagayan de Oro City Representative Rufus Rodriguez also claimed that persons close to Malacañang asked their signatures to support the complaint.
"The sense of the House minority is that this could be a plot to immunize the President from an impeachment complaint for one year,” said Rodriguez who believed that the complaint against the President was meant to give her one year protection against stronger impeachment complaint.
Laguna Representative Dan Fernandez, also a member of the opposition, said he was also approached by a "Malacañang messenger" asking him to sign the Pulido impeachment complaint.
"I was approached last Friday by a person very close to Malacañang to sign the impeachment as endorser against the President," Fernandez said.
Pulido, a former lawyer of Oakwood mutineers, has filed before the Office of House Secretary General the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo last Friday. The endorser, Laguna Representative Edgar San Luis, is a known ally of the administration.
Pulido has accused Arroyo of betraying public trust following her alleged failure to stop the reported bribery in connection with the scrapped National Broadband Network (NBN) deal with China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications (ZTE) Corp.
Opposition congressmen believed though that the impeachment complaint was meant to give Arroyo a one year protection from facing a genuine and strong complaint and in turn would allow her allies to launch a bold ouster move against House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.
Under House rules, only one complaint can be filed against impeachable officials in a year. (Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (October 9, 2007 issue)
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