De Venecia group fails to file oust rap
By Leila Salaverria, Katherine Evangelista, TJ Burgonio
INQUIRER.net, Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 15:27:00 10/11/2008
MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 3) Is there anybody home?
The plan was to file successively three identical impeachment complaints against President Macapagal-Arroyo in the House of Representatives. But the effort went for naught because the secretary general, the person authorized to receive impeachment complaints, was not there on Saturday.
The complainants, led by Jose de Venecia III, would also be unable to carry out their plan of camping outside the secretary general’s office through the weekend, to make sure no one could slip in and file a “sham” impeachment complaint.
Security personnel told De Venecia they could not stay in the area for security reasons and because the offices were closed.
Instead, the people who want to unseat the President will have to wake up very early tomorrow so they will be first in line to file their complaint when the secretary general reports to his post.
The complaint of De Venecia, Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico, lawyer Harry Roque, missing activists’ mothers Edita Burgos, Concepcion Empeno and Erlinda Cadapan, among others, was supposed to be filed at 7 p.m. Saturday, at 12:01 a.m. Sunday and at 9 a.m. Monday.
The last impeachment complaint was filed on Oct. 11 last year. The ban on filing a new one ended yesterday. The first working day after the lifting of the ban is tomorrow. Only one impeachment complaint can be filed against the President in a year.
Off to Switzerland
De Venecia said Secretary General Marilyn Yap flew to Switzerland this weekend but appointed her deputy to take her place. However, the appointment takes effect on Oct. 13—tomorrow.
De Venecia seemed miffed at the development, noting that House Speaker Prospero Nograles had promised to keep the secretary general’s office open upon learning of the plan to file the impeachment complaint.
“We are now forced to wait until Monday morning when the effectivity of the appointment of the acting Sec Gen will begin. I just wanted to say that Speaker Nograles’ comment yesterday (Friday) and what transpired today are inconsistent and that’s quite disappointing,” he said in a press conference on Saturday.
De Venecia added that he hopes nobody would file a deliberately weak impeachment complaint ahead of them, as what allegedly happened when lawyer Roel Pulido filed a “sham” impeachment complaint in 2007. Oliver Lozano also filed impeachment complaints in 2005, 2006 and again in February 2008.
These were allegedly ploys to give Ms Arroyo one-year immunity from ouster moves by the opposition.
Meanwhile, Nograles denied that the closing of the office of the House secretary general was a “delaying tactic” of sorts to delay the filing of the impeachment complaint against Arroyo.
“The unavailability of any secretariat official to receive the impeachment complaint was not deliberate and not a delaying tactic,” Nograles said in a text message to INQUIRER.net.
He added that they waited for De Venecia’s group to file their complaint until 5 a.m. but sent the staff home to get some rest since it was “unfair” if they waited for the complainants to get ready.
“The plenary approval of the 2009 budget was wrapped up at nearly 4 a.m. after a week of marathon sessions. They (secretariat officials and staff) also have to catch a (sic) sleep and being a Saturday, take the much needed rest. Anyway, the House is open on Monday and there’s not much of a difference if they do it today or on Monday,” Nograles said.
Strong complaint
De Venecia said that despite the House of Representatives being filled with Ms Arroyo’s allies, he and the other complainants were pushing through with the impeachment bid in order to send a strong message to the President that she is being watched and she should be held accountable for her lapses.
He acknowledged that there was a chance the complainants might not get the required 79 votes to transmit the complaint to the Senate, but it was vital to file the complaint.
Bayan Muna lawyer Neri Colmenares, in the same conference, said the allegations in their complaint were backed by very strong evidence. For instance, he said the allegations of corruption regarding the $329-million National Broadband Network deal with China were backed by the statements of witness Rodolfo Lozada. The allegations of human rights violations were supported by the Court of Appeals decisions finding the military responsible for the abductions and forced disappearance of activists.
“It is a verified complaint, in the name of the Filipino people, and for the Filipino people, to impeach and bring trial Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, for her betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes,” Colmenares said.
The draft of the group’s complaint, a copy of which the Philippine Daily Inquirer obtained from sources, is 97 pages long, while the Pulido complaint was only three pages.
Confident President
Meanwhile, President Arroyo was treating the new impeachment complaint as a rehash of old charges against her, confident that the House of Representatives would junk this for lack of basis, Undersecretary Anthony Golez said Saturday.
“[She] is so focused on her job,” the deputy presidential spokesperson said when asked over government station Radyo ng Bayan if Ms Arroyo had reason to worry about the new complaint.
In a separate interview in Bacolod on Friday, Golez scored critics of President Arroyo for being “glued to politicking” while leaders around the world are working to keep their economies afloat amid a global economic crisis. “This is not the time to pursue our own interests but the interest of the country,” he said.
De Venecia and Roque had indicated the complaint would question an aborted deal signed by the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) expanding the Bangsamoro territory.
Golez said Saturday he believes the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain (MOA-AD) between the government and the MILF had been so thoroughly debated that it was pointless to question it.
“What else is there to talk about? The MOA was not signed,” he said, echoing the argument of government lawyers who asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a petition seeking to nullify the deal.
CBCP for impeachment
Meanwhile, the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) public affairs office, said he was in favor of filing another impeachment case against President Macapagal-Arroyo.
But this early, Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez admitted the latest complaint would not likely prosper since the House of Representatives is dominated by the President’s allies.
“If lawyers can find grounds to impeach the President, I’m in favor of it,” he said in Filipino. “Because as I see it, the President’s attitude on graft and corruption and other concerns for the common good is hopeless.”
He said the latest impeachment complaint could have a chance if various sectors including the Catholic Church would unite to campaign for it.
Bigger threat
The plan to file yet another impeachment complaint against President Arroyo did not surprise Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, who twice tag-teamed with Sen. Francis Escudero in seeking to unseat the President in 2005 and 2006.
However, Cayetano pointed to a graver threat to the republic—the move to extend Ms Arroyo’s term beyond June 30, 2010.
“If ever there is merit to it or not, the important thing is we restore the status of the impeachment—that it is a matter of justice and not a numbers’ game,” he said.
With reports from Dona Pazzibugan and Michael Lim Ubac in Manila and Carla P. Gomez in the Visayas
|
