MANILA, Philippines?Malacańang officials celebrated with a ?boodle fight? the latest triumph in the impeachment battle in Congress.
Opponents of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo licked their wounds and vowed to try again. The head of the Catholic Bishops? Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) lamented that Ms Arroyo?s allies have again ?blocked the truth.?
?It is a welcome development,? Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said after the House justice committee voted to junk the fourth impeachment complaint against Ms Arroyo since 2005.
As news about the dismissal filtered in, Cabinet officials led by Ermita heartily engaged reporters in a ?boodle fight??a military style of eating with bare hands food placed on a long table covered with banana leaves?at the New Executive Building.
Ermita, along with Presidential Management Staff chief Cerge Remonde, Secretary to the Cabinet Silvestre Bello III and deputy presidential spokesperson Anthony Golez, and the reporters feasted on roasted chicken, deep fried fish fillets, noodles and eggplant salad.
?Let?s pacify people rather than encourage talks on People Power,? said Ermita, a former general.
?What?s important is we?ve allowed the system to work properly on existing laws without resorting to extrajudicial means,? he said.
Ms Arroyo, who is due to arrive on Friday from her trip to Peru and Colombia, has been informed about the House decision but Ermita said he did not know how she reacted to it.
Deputy Minority Leader Satur Ocampo said the impeachment proponents would still try to muster more support in the plenary when the justice committee transmits its report and the entire House membership votes on it.
?We will present additional arguments. We can still expand it,? Ocampo said. He said the plenary would give his group the chance to inform the people about the alleged sins of the President and that this in itself constituted victory.
No ?delicadeza?
?Our congressmen no longer have a sense of delicadeza [propriety],? Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said over the Church-run Radio Veritas. ?Pity on us because our congressmen no longer seem to use their heads,? he said.
?It only shows that the President has control of the Senate and the Congress and it is expected next year that she would also have control over the entire Supreme Court,? Cruz said. Seven justices of the 15-member tribunal are retiring next year.
Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, CBCP president, also told Radio Veritas that ?the pro-Arroyo congressmen blocked the truth.?
?We will continue our search for the truth. The junking of the impeachment complaint does not mean we should give up hope that we would ever know the truth,? he said.
?Has all the aces up?
?I?m concerned that the speed in killing the complaint would lead directly to other things like pushing for Charter change in the House,? Sen. Manuel Villar told reporters.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano feared that the House would push for ?Gloria Forever? through Charter change.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the issues against Ms Arroyo did not die with the complaint. ?She will go down in history as the most hated leader our country ever had, and her administration the most corrupt and morally bankrupt,? he said.
?She has all the aces up her snickers and cash in brown paper bags ready for all takers. How sad,? Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said.
Explaining the swift move in the House, Sen. Manuel ?Mar? Roxas II said many congressmen were rushing to fly to Las Vegas to watch the Dec. 6 bout of Manny Pacquiao and Oscar de la Hoya.
?Now the ballroom is clear for Cha-cha,? said Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, president of the United Opposition political party. With reports from TJ Burgonio, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr., Leila B. Salaverria, Christine O. Avendańo, Dona Z. Pazzibugan and Miko Morelos
