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Thursday, November 15, 2007
House junks impeach complaint vs Arroyo
MANILA –- The House of Representatives on Wednesday pushed through with its plan to kill the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo amid the bombing that rocked the Batasan complex on Tuesday.
By a vote of 43-1, the House committee on justice dismissed the impeachment case filed by lawyer Rafael Pulido and endorsed by Laguna Representative Edgar San Luis.
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The said committee determined the sufficiency in form and in substance of the complaint.
It declared the Pulido complaint Wednesday as insufficient in substance. On Monday, the committee voted in favor of the sufficiency of form of the complaint.
The last hope that the impeachment complaint has to be transmitted to the Senate is to have 81 congressmen voting in favor of it in the plenary voting.
Quezon City third district Representative Matias Defensor, chairman of the House committee on justice, said the complaint “doesn’t stand a chance” because it is very weak.
“There is nothing really that can substantiate an impeachment complaint at this time,” he said.
At the start of the hearing, the committee offered a prayer for the repose of the souls of those who were killed in the blast and speedy recovery of those injured.
The blast Tuesday night at the south wing of the Batansang Pambansa killed four people, including Representative Wahab Akbar, and left several others injured.
“While we condemn the incident in strong terms, the world must go on,” said Defensor.
Albay Representative Edcel Lagman was the one who laid down the arguments for the dismissal of the complaint, saying Pulido failed to meet the requirement of Section 4, Rule III of the impeachment rules which states: “The requirement of substance is met if there is a recital of facts constituting the offense charged and determinative of the jurisdiction of the committee.”
“It (impeachment complaint) is grossly insufficient in substance. It is bereft of the requisite ultimate facts. It is inordinately bare like a centerfold, which may excite but does not excel,” Lagman said.
In 2005, Lagman was also the one who delivered the fatal blow that killed the impeachment complaint against the President filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano.
“A violation must be alleged clearly and directly. It must never be presumed,” he said. “The foregoing are not factual allegations of overt acts. They are conclusions of law and assumptions of facts which are bereft of factual and legal bases on the very face of the complaint.”
San Luis argued that the betrayal of public trust is meant to be a “catch-all-phrase,” quoting his cousin former Constitutional Commission delegate Rustico delos Reyes as saying it covers any violation of the oath of office.
Lagman, however, said the complaint is still flawed since “the requisite of averring the ultimate facts constituting the offense has not been complied with.”
Pulido said there was nothing new with what happened, noting that this has long been the administration’s game plan.
With the junking of the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said everyone could now focus on the more important task of promoting stability and security in the country.
Bunye, who is also the Presidential spokesman, said the too much preoccupation with politics has not helped in moving the country forward.
“With this matter settled, we should move on and focus on issues that matter to our future. Too much preoccupation with politics does not promote stability, continuity, security and order that we need to move Team Philippines forward,” he said.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita hoped that the outcome of the impeachment complaint would be accepted and respected by everyone.
Ermita, however, believed that the opposition would not stop until they feel that their arguments and stands have been properly heard by the public.
“I hope that this will be received very well by the general public and then let's go and allow the President to move on with the business of governance and I hope that all these other things will not be a distraction,” he said.
He said it was already obvious from the start that some of the complaints were merely an attempt to attack the President or even “call attention to their cause of trying to throw a curve ball against the President.”
Ermita reiterated that under the Constitution only one impeachment complaint could be filed against an impeachable official which, after reaching the House committee on justice, bars the filing of any similar complaints against the same person for a year.
Asked how the President might have felt after the junking of the impeachment case, Ermita said: “Definitely the President will feel some degree of comfort and satisfaction that the impeachment case did not prosper in a forum in accordance with accepted legal procedures. That is something that will give some level of comfort to the President.”
He added that the House decision was just since some of the bases of these complaints are already non-existent like the US$329 million National Broadband Network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., which has already been cancelled by the President and the supposed bribery surrounding the deal that led to the resignation of election chairman Benjamin Abalos Sr., who has been accused of doing the bribe. (JMR/Sunnex)
For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Iloilo. (November 15, 2007 issue)
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Batasan blast death toll rises to 4