House Justice committee to prioritize Aquino impeachment raps
Iloilo Representative Neil Tupas, Jr., INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – The chairman of the justice committee in the House of Representatives said they would prioritize the impeachment complaints against President Benigno Aquino III once these are referred to them.
Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. said in a press conference Tuesday that an impeachment would take precedence over the other matters of the justice committee.
“We will give it our utmost priority because it’s an impeachment; it takes precedence over all other pending matters in the Committee on Justice,” Tupas said.
“[Once it is referred to us], we will set a hearing and we will vote on the first day on the sufficiency in form,” he added.
Aquino is facing two impeachment complaints endorsed by the Makabayan bloc over his Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), parts of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The complainants said Aquino should be impeached for violating the Constitution and betraying the public’s trust.
Tupas said the complaints are expected to be referred to the justice committee once Congress resumes session after Aquino’s State of the Nation Address.
He added that the committee may consolidate the complaints into one.
He explained that the committee will vote on four factors – sufficiency in form, substance, grounds, and probable cause.
Tupas also said proving that the President is liable for culpable violation of the Constitution is the trickier one because the complainants need to “prove that the President maliciously, intentionally, and with bad faith conceptualized the DAP.”
But the second ground, betrayal of public trust, is a lighter offense to prove, he added.
Tupas pointed out that there have been only two successful impeachment trials in the country – that of convicted President Joseph Estrada over jueteng money, and that of former Chief Justice Renato Corona over his failure to declare his wealth.
“Two things must be present for an impeachment to succeed: the evidence should be strong… and there should be very, very strong public support…” Tupas said.
“So absent one or the other or both, an impeachment would fail,” he added.
The committee chairman said it is important that the public know the content of the impeachment complaint because “impeachment is the power of the sovereign or the power of the people.
“Di ba mas maganda na malaman ng tao kung ano ang nilalaman ng impeachment kasi kami representatives lang naman ang boboto,” he said.
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