Arroyo impeachment complaint filed anew at House
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:39:00 02/26/2008
Filed Under: NBN deal, Impeachment
MANILA, Philippines -- Lawyer Oliver Lozano has again filed an impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo over the national broadband network scandal.
Lozano filed his complaint at the House of Representatives following Senate President Manuel Villar’s statement that Arroyo’s admission that she signed the NBN contract with China’s ZTE Corp. despite knowing the alleged irregularities could be basis for her impeachment.
In a six-page complaint sent by mail on Tuesday, Lozano charged the President with alleged betrayal of public trust.
In the document, however, Lozano cited mostly quotes by senators and congressmen commenting on the President’s admission.
“Considering their public statements, [Bayan Muna] Representative [Teodoro] Casino Jr. and [Pangasinan] Representative Jose de Venecia Jr. are expected to endorse the impeachment complaint in due time,” he said.
Like the first case he filed against the President, Lozano acknowledged that this new complaint might only be received and kept on file until it would be endorsed by a member of the House.
Aside from this, the one-year ban against any new complaint based would only end in October, he said.
But Lozano insisted that “receipt was ministerial and not prejudicial to anyone.”
“Only the justice committee has the sole authority to determine sufficiency in form and substance of an impeachment complaint,” he said.
In his complaint, Lozano explained that his early filing “merely complements the early announcement of impeachment by Senator Villar that tends to defuse the current political, social and economic tension by giving hope for legal remedy.”
And considering the “persistent challenge of the administration to resolve the burning ZTE controversy through due process,” Lozano is hoping that Arroyo’s allies in the House will not kill the impeachment by “technicality or legal niceties.”
“Hopelessness in the justice system or mockery of the impeachment may lead to the assassination of the President or coup d’ etat,” he said.
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