Why filing an impeachment case vs Aquino is waste of time

By: Marc Jayson Cayabyab - 10 years ago

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. remains confident the impeachment moves against President Benigno Aquino III would not prosper under the House of Representatives that is packed with presidential allies.

“(I am) not worried about possible impeachment,” Belmonte said in a text message after the Supreme Court ruled that the disbursement of the president’s purported “pork barrel” funds under the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) is illegal.

He added that any impeachment move would not garner enough votes to prosper.

“(SC acted in) good faith and sincere intentions,” Belmonte added.

Belmonte made the statement after a militant youth group warned that it would file an impeachment complaint against the President.

“The SC’s decision is a signal for us to push through with the filing of formal complaints against Aquino and (Budget Secretary Florencio) Abad over DAP,” YOUTH ACT NOW National Convenor Victor Villanueva said in a statement.

“YOUTH ACT NOW will join Kabataan partylist in filing impeachment raps and malversation charges against Aquino and Abad, respectively,” he added.

Meanwhile, militant Bayan Muna lawmakers called a “partial victory” over the SC’s ruling to declare DAP illegal.

“We have condemned President Benigno Aquino’s use of the DAP and DBM Circular 451 during the 2012 budget deliberation because it transforms items in the budget into pork by impounding or withdrawing the funds and realigning these to the projects of selected allies, including senators and congressmen, and LGU officials,” said Rep. Neri Colmenares, who is also one of the petitioners against DAP.

“This leads to corruption and patronage politics and has drained billions of pesos from public funds to highly questionable projects. President Aquino and Sec. Abad must be held accountable for culpable violations of the Constitution,” the senior deputy minority leader added.

DAP funds have been criticized after Senator Jinggoy Estrada exposed that the presidential pork barrel funds were given allegedly as incentives to senators who voted to oust convicted Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.