PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s game plan is to get into Congress with a core group of 50 to 100 representatives supporting her, thus posing a constant impeachment threat to her successor, vice presidential candidate Sen. Manuel ?Mar? Roxas II said.

?It will be her shield to discourage the next president from going after her for the wrong deeds in her administration, and it will be her sword to keep her successor in check,? said Roxas, who heads the Liberal Party.

?She just doesn?t want to be speaker of the House, she wants to remain powerful even after she steps down,? he said in an interview.

?This is her golden parachute, this is her game plan.?

The Constitution requires the votes of one-third of all members of the House of Representatives to impeach a president and two-thirds of the Senate to convict him or her.

Lots of practice

Roxas said President Arroyo apparently had a lot of practice considering that impeachment complaints filed against her had been an annual tradition since 2005. However, they were invariably doomed because the opposition lacked the numbers to see the cases through.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño agreed that Ms Arroyo could hold her successor by the throat if she made it to Congress.

?Once in Congress, Gloria Arroyo can definitely do that (threaten the next President with impeachment) and more. She can head a powerful committee or be speaker if she tries hard enough, thus holding the next president by the balls, so to speak,? Casiño said.

Lots of money

But Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin Jr. said that for this plan to succeed, Ms Arroyo would have to be willing to shell out more than her successor would through pork barrel releases?P70 million a year per representative.

?It depends how much. To maintain such a core in a state of critical mass sufficiently tight to ignite action, which is a centrifugal force, she would have to overspend sufficiently to overcome the centripetal force of presidential favor,? said Locsin in a text message.

?In short, she must pay each core member more than the latter expect to get in pork. That?s a lot of money, she would be better off buying the next president. It?s cheaper.?

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo said that without control of government resources, ?she could not command obeisance among the members of the House.?

Ocampo said the President?s supposed goal assumed that she would get at least 90 House members doing her will and that the next president would commit impeachable offenses early on. ?Both factors are uncertain or unlikely given Gloria Arroyo?s high level of public disapproval,? Ocampo said.