Liberal Party member didn’t sign impeach rap, loses post

A Liberal Party stalwart has lost his committee after refusing to go along with an impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, which a majority of House members claimed they had not even read or discussed but nevertheless signed.

The firing of Batangas Representative Hermilando Mandanas on Wednesday as chairman of the powerful ways and means committee had triggered speculation that administration allies who did not join Monday’s move to oust Corona were in danger of losing their committee posts as well.

House leaders announced in Wednesday night’s session that Mandanas would be replaced by Davao City Representative Isidro Ungab, a member of the ruling party which orchestrated the Corona impeachment juggernaut on Monday.

In a phone interview, Mandanas said that his refusal to toe the majority line on several issues, including the Corona impeachment, cost him his seat.

“Speaker Feliciano Belmonte informed me that I was being removed as chair of my committee because, in his own words, that is what the administration wants,” Mandanas said. “It might have something to do with the Corona impeachment which I refused to sign.”

Just bad timing

But Belmonte vehemently denied that Mandanas was axed as a fallout from the impeachment case where the administration coalition gathered only 188 signatures or short of its target of more than 200 endorsers.

“It’s just bad timing,” said Belmonte, who noted that Mandanas had diverged from the administration’s direction on several issues.

Mandanas said he found the eight articles of impeachment prepared by a team led by Representative Niel Tupas Jr., justice committee chairman, unacceptable and unjust,  just as more than a dozen other administration lawmakers did.

Widely seen as a maverick, Mandanas has scored Malacañang for withholding billions of pesos of funds representing the share of local government units in the national tax collections.

The Palace crackdown came a day after Navotas Representative Tobias Tiangco quit from the majority bloc, including his position as chairman of the House committee on Metro Manila development, in protest over what he called the Malacañang’s conversion of Congress into a “rubber stamp” using the representatives’ P70-million pork barrel to prod them to submission.

“I am well-aware of the vast powers of the President,” Tiangco said in a privilege speech on Tuesday. “With the vast powers of the President, life can be miserable.”

“We were told it was an impeachment, but we were not given documents. Others questioned this and were given a Powerpoint presentation,” Tiangco told Radyo Inquirer Wednesday.

“We were told that those who want to sign may sign, those who don’t want to need not sign. We were told it was not debatable,” he added.

Toe line or get out

Zambales Representative Milagros Magsaysay said the House action against Mandanas proved that the administration would not take rejection lightly.  “If you don’t toe the administration line, you’re out, regardless if you’re an ally,” Magsaysay said.

Other majority members who refused to join the impeachment bandwagon were Deputy Speaker Pablo Garcia; Deputy Speaker Jesus Crispin Remulla; Assistant Majority Leader Roman Romulo; the appropriations committee chair, Joseph Emilio Abaya; committee on appointment members Rodante Marcoleta and Luis Villafuerte; the bank and intermediaries committee chair, Sergio Apostol; the basic education committee chair, Salvador Escudero III; the economic affairs committee chairman, Ramon Durano VI; the natural resources committee chair, Francisco Matugas; the public order and security committee chair, Pablo John Garcia; the defense committee chair, Rodolfo Biazon; the health committee chair, Alfredo Marañon III; the information and communications committee chair, Sigfrido Tiñga; the labor committee chair, Emil Ong; the public works and highways committee chair, Ronald Cosalan; constitutional amendments committee member, Rufus Rodriguez and the women and gender equality committee chair, Angelica Amante-Matba.

The majority of these lawmakers said that they did not sign the impeachment complaint because they were not allowed to read and debate it since the majority wanted it done on the same day of the caucus.