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Tuesday, November 06, 2007
New complaint filed vs. Arroyo
MANILA -- Critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo have not given up on their bid to oust her, as they filed two supplemental complaints to bolster an impeachment bid over her alleged involvement in a bribery-tainted broadband contract.
Lawyer Adel Tamano, an opposition spokesman, Monday submitted a 38-page “addendum and supplement” to what some consider a weak first impeachment complaint filed last month by lawyer Rafael Pulido at the House of Representatives.
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Iloilo Vice Governor Rolex Suplico, lawyer Harry Roque and civil society leaders also filed an 11-page supplemental impeachment complaint to a case Suplico filed in September against former Commission on Elections chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr.
Arroyo was named as respondent in the supplemental complaint, making it the second impeachment complaint against her this year.
Suplico said that since his original complaint was filed ahead of that of Pulido, the House justice committee should still consider it even if it was already archived after Abalos went on leave.
Both complaints cited the $330-million contract with China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunication Equipment (ZTE) Corp. to install a nationwide broadband network for Philippine government offices that Abalos allegedly brokered. Arroyo has since scrapped the contract.
Jose “Joey” de Venecia III -- son of the speaker of the House of Representatives and founder of a losing bidder for the contract -- testified before the Senate that Arroyo’s husband, First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, bullied him and told him to “back off” from the project. Mr. Arroyo has been accused of taking $70 million in kickbacks.
Implicated
Suplico’s supplementary complaint noted that since he filed the case against Abalos, subsequent events have implicated the President in the scandal.
The complaint accused Arroyo of “committing culpable violations of the constitution and graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust” by tolerating the commission of a crime (bribery), authorizing two Cabinet secretaries to negotiate for the award of the project to ZTE, and allegedly allowing distribution of bribe money to congressmen at the presidential palace.
Arroyo survived two previous impeachment attempts over alleged vote-rigging and corruption when her House allies used their overwhelming numbers to crush the complaints on a technicality.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said President Arroyo will not allow these attempts to force her out of office to distract her.
“Despite this minor distraction, the President will remain laser-focused on her principal task of governing this nation,” he said.
Confident
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Sergio Antonio Apostol is confident the supplemental complaints to the impeachment cases will be junked for being unconstitutional.
“The Constitution provides that only one complaint (in one year) can be filed against an impeachable personality,” Apostol said.
Whether the first complaint against the President is amended or a supplemental complaint is filed, he added, it is still “tantamount to a second complaint.”
The view was shared by Quezon City third district Representative Matias Defensor, an administration congressman.
He said attempts to strengthen the Pulido complaint are useless since this will automatically be rejected by the justice committee in view of the constitutional provision that no other complaint shall be entertained once a complaint is initiated.
“The impeachment case against the President has been initiated already. The rules speak that only one impeachment case against any impeachable public official can be initiated within a period of one year,” Defensor said.
But Tamano argued that the Constitution does not prohibit multiple complaints but proceedings.
The Supreme Court is yet to rule on whether the constitutional prohibition applies to multiple proceedings and not on the filing of multiple complaints against the official.
In the Francisco vs. the House case, the High Court ruled that a complaint is deemed initiated once it is referred to the justice panel for deliberations.
Impact
Meanwhile, Chief Justice Reynato Puno bewailed the current political tension saying it will negatively impact on the country particularly its economic development.
Although he respects the impeachment process as part of a democratic country, he noted that the tension it generates is not good for the country.
He said that impeachment is more of a test of the strength of a country’s political system rather than the judiciary.
“The impeachment complaint is a political rather than a judicial crisis,” he said. (AP/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Baguio. (November 6, 2007 issue)
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