Sen. JV Ejercito. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Even the minority bloc in the Senate appears not inclined to support the impeachment move against President Benigno Aquino III, with one senator saying it would not prosper anyway.
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, an opposition member in the Senate, said they agreed not to support an impeachment complaint against President Aquino even if Vice President Jejomar Binay would benefit from it.
“Halimbawa magkaroon ng impeachment, kung matuloy man ito syempre, ang natural beneficiary nyan is the Vice President and we’ve agreed that we will not support an impeachment process kasi sabi nga namin hindi naman ito makakabuti kahit kami ang magbenepisyo nito dahil po ang aming titular head ang magiging pangulo,” Ejercito said at a press conference on Tuesday.
(If the impeachment pushes through, of course the natural beneficiary would be the Vice President and we’ve agreed that we will not support an impeachment process because it will not be good even if we would benefit from it since our titular head will become president)
“Syempre kung ano ang makakabuti kasi it will just worsen the divisiveness,” he said.
Impeaching the President, Ejercito said, would not be good for the country as it would only worsen divisiveness and cause political instability.
“Tutal dalawang taon na lang si Pangulong Aquino, siguro magandang hintayin na lang natin,” he said as he expressed hopes that the Aquino administration would “shape up” in the remaining two years of its term.
The senator reiterated that the opposition would play its role as “objective” and “constructive” fiscalizer.
“Sana huwag nyang tingnan kami sa opposition bilang kalaban, hindi dahil hindi kami naka-dilaw e masama na agad ang tingin sa amin so sabi ko nga, sa demokrasya, malaking bagay ang papel na ginagampanan ng opposition…” he said.
Besides, Ejercito doubts whether an impeachment bid against the President would prosper at this point.
While Aquino’s trust rating was going down based on surveys, the senator pointed out that it has not reached yet a critical level enough to cause political instability in the country.
“I’d reiterate na dahil ang impeachment process ay political ay sa tingin ko ay mahihirapan pa itong makakakuha ng suporta sa ngayon bagamat kami sa opposition, ang kinikilalang oposisyon sa ngayon, I don’t think any one of us will support the impeachment at this time.”
The senator himself believes that the President did not personally benefit from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), parts of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The DAP issue was among the issues raised in the impeachment complaints filed against Aquino.
Unlike Ejercito, his colleagues in the minority bloc opted not to comment on the impeachment move against Aquino.
“For reasons of delicadeza, it is not proper for me to comment on the possible impeachment of the President since my father, being the vice president and second highest official in government, may directly benefit from the outcome of the impeachment,” Senator Nancy Binay, the Vice President’s daughter, said in a text message.
“We should not comment so that in case it’s elevated to us, we will remain impartial,” Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said in a separate text message.
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