‘Serial’ filer of impeachment suits at it again

By: DJ Yap - 10 years ago

Oliver Lozano. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Oliver Lozano is at it again.

The former lawyer of the late authoritarian President Ferdinand Marcos beat everyone else in filing an impeachment complaint against President Benigno Aquino III in connection with what the Supreme Court had described as unconstitutional practices in the government’s Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

Lozano, a staunch Marcos loyalist, is also known for filing several fruitless impeachment complaints against former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and against President Aquino in 2011.

But the lawyer eschewed protocol by filing his complaint on Friday not in the secretary general of the House of Representatives as required by the Constitution, but in the Office of the Ombudsman and the Office of Kabataan Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon.

Ridon was the first lawmaker to announce moves to impeach Mr. Aquino after the Supreme Court struck down parts of the DAP on Tuesday.

Flattered

“I’m a bit flattered that he went directly to me instead of just filing (his complaint) in the secretary general (of the House of Representatives),” Ridon said in a phone interview, adding that he received the five-page document with a cover letter requesting him to endorse the impeachment complaint.

Under the Constitution, an impeachment complaint may only be included in the House of Representatives’ order of business and referred to the proper committee if filed by a House member, or by any citizen with the endorsement of a House member.

The impeachment complaint contained a summary of Mr. Aquino’s alleged failings as President and an enumeration of various laws that he supposedly flouted.

Lozano’s decision not to file the impeachment complaint in the secretary general meant that “no impeachment complaint has yet been filed,” according to House justice committee chair Niel Tupas Jr.

A nuisance?

Asked if he considered the Lozano complaint a nuisance, the Iloilo representative said in a text message that he had not yet seen the complaint, and that “any impeachment complaint should be filed in the House of Representatives and should be endorsed by a member of the House, otherwise the House will not take cognizance (of it).”

Tupas, an administration ally, said the justice committee would not block any impeachment move out of loyalty to the President.

“The committee will proceed based on its rules on impeachment. If the complaint is not meritorious, then it will be dismissed in the committee level; otherwise, it will proceed until plenary action,” he said.

Ridon said he might incorporate parts of Lozano’s complaint in the impeachment document he was drafting and planning to submit to the secretary general “next week at the earliest.”

Lacking in law

He added that Lozano’s complaint, as written, “seems lacking in law and in fact, I would not have endorsed it if he had filed it in the secretary general directly.”

Ridon said his party-list group was wary of possible “flawed, weak and bogus impeachment complaints” against Mr. Aquino that might be endorsed by other House members to block “legitimate impeachment complaints against the President.”

Lozano’s complaint listed 11 instances of Mr. Aquino’s alleged “failure of leadership” that, the Marcos loyalist claimed, constituted the President’s “incapacity to govern, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust.

Included on the list are President Aquino’s “failure to execute the law against the pork barrel scam (Priority Development Assistance Fund and DAP) for being the ‘alleged Pork Barrel King’”; his “failure to impose equal treatment of suspects and respondents in the pork barrel scam”; and “political vendetta and selective justice in general.”

Unsuccessful

Lozano first filed an unsuccessful impeachment complaint against President Aquino in 2011 for the latter’s refusal to allow a burial with military honors for President Marcos, whose remains are in a refrigerated crypt in Batac, Ilocos Norte province.

The Marcos lawyer also previously filed impeachment complaints against former President Arroyo in 2000 for openly calling for the resignation of then President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, and in 2005 for her alleged wiretapped conversations with former Election Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano in 2004.

Lozano filed more impeachment complaints against Arroyo in January and June of 2006, all of which were dismissed.

He was also one of the individual petitioners in 2012 in the successful impeachment proceeding against then Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

A supporter of the late actor and losing presidential contender Fernando Poe Jr., Lozano is the lawyer of the Coalition for National Solidarity headed by retired Gen. Fortunato Abat. With a report from Inquirer Research