‘House panel set to kill impeachment’

The Philippine Star 08/29/2005

The committee on justice of the House of Representatives is set to kill the opposition’s amended impeachment charges of "lying, cheating and stealing" against embattled President Arroyo this week, impeachment endorsers said yesterday.

"That is the game plan. The President’s allies will send our amended complaint to the graveyard at the latest on Wednesday unless we are able to come up with the magic 79 signatures to transmit it to the Senate for trial," Marinduque Rep. Edmund Reyes told reporters yesterday.

Reyes belongs to the majority bloc. He is one of four members of the majority who endorsed the opposition’s amended petition last Tuesday.

He said the plan is to throw out all complaints before Mrs. Arroyo flies to Saudi Arabia and New York next weekend.

He said tomorrow, the justice committee chaired by former Arroyo justice secretary and now Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong will vote on the first of two "prejudicial questions" tomorrow.

The first question is whether the amended complaint is a separate petition and is not just a revised version of the original pleading filed by lawyer Oliver Lozano. The second question is whether the Lozano complaint barred the second petition filed by Manila lawyer Jose Lopez and the revised version filed by the opposition.

Reyes said judging from the arguments of the President’s allies since the debates began last week on the complex and confusing "prejudicial issues," the amended impeachment complaint is likely to be deemed a separate one.

On Wednesday, administration supporters will decide that the Lozano complaint is the one that initiated the impeachment proceeding against Mrs. Arroyo and triggered the constitutional one-year ban on the filing of any other petition, he said.

Thus, he said the President’s allies will vote to throw out the amended complaint by ruling that the Lozano petition barred any other impeachment charges.

"In short, they will resort to technicality to kill our complaint," he stressed.

Reyes, who is a lawyer and who was the spokesman for the House prosecution team in ousted President Joseph Estrada’s aborted Senate impeachment trial, said after deciding to recognize the Lozano complaint, the justice committee will also kill it next week.

He said he has carefully studied the Lozano and Lopez petitions and he has discovered that the two do not comply with the House requirements on "form" as they lack "verification."

He explained that under Rule 13 of the impeachment rules, a complaint must be accompanied by a "verification" whose exact language is prescribed in such rule.

"This is in addition to the jurat, or the ‘Subscribe and sworn to before me’ paragraph," he said.

In a related development, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez said yesterday Malacañang declared today a holiday to "preempt" the "Hello, Garci" hearing of five House committees set this afternoon.

Because of the Palace decision, the committees have had to reset their hearing for next Monday.

Golez said the administration was afraid that "damning evidence" against the President could be brought out in the hearing, which was to focus on the "escape" of former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.

The committees would also receive the subpoenaed phone records of the President and Garcillano in May and June last year. The presidential election was in May, while the controversial vote canvass was in June.

Meanwhile, four congresswomen yesterday affirmed their support to the President and expressed confidence she would survive the impeachment process.

In a joint statement, Corazon Malanyaon of Davao Oriental, Amelita Villaroza of Mindoro Occidental, Lorna Silverio of Bulacan and Connie Dy of Pasay City said they believe Mrs. Arroyo would overcome the political crisis she is facing.

They asked the opposition and the people to respect whatever is the outcome of the impeachment proceedings.

That is also when the President leaves for Saudi Arabia and New York.

Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra, who is an Arroyo ally though he belongs to the Liberal Party (LP) which has called for Mrs. Arroyo’s resignation, said the justice committee should finish its job before the President leaves.

"This case should not be allowed to dog her when she represents the country abroad," he said.

Other presidential allies have been hunting down since last week at least two impeachment endorsers to convince them to withdraw their endorsement.

Sources identified the two as Alfonso Umali of Mindoro Oriental and Reynaldo Uy of Western Samar, who both belong to the LP. Last Friday, Mrs. Arroyo appointed a brother of Umali as Customs deputy commissioner.

In the case of Uy, he and colleague Catalino Figueroa, also of Western Samar, together with human rights groups, have asked for the relief of Maj. Gen. Jovito Palparan as the military commander for the Samar-Leyte region. Palparan has reportedly been relieved.

Umali and Uy have been apparently evading their "pursuers," who hope to convince the two "to do a Magsaysay."

Last week, Rep. Eulogio Rodriguez Magsaysay of the party-list group Alliance of Volunteer Educations withdrew his endorsement of the impeachment complaint. The STAR learned over the weekend that a relative of Magsaysay has been appointed to a key position in the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority.

Reyes added that since the Lozano complaint lacks verification, the justice committee will bury it Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

His prediction appears to jibe with the House timetable of action on the three impeachment complaints.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. told a news conference yesterday that the justice committee will take a crucial vote tomorrow on the first "prejudicial question" and another vote on the second question on Wednesday.

He said next week, before Congress goes on its first recess since convening for its second regular session last July 25, a more crucial vote would be taken by the House in plenary session on the report of the Datumanong committee.

"In plenary, if they (impeachment group) have 79 votes, they can affirm or reverse the decision of the committee on justice. If the decision is to dismiss the complaint, they can overturn that with 79 votes," he said.

However, De Venecia expressed doubts on whether the opposition can muster the needed 79 votes, or one-third of the 236 House members.

He said about 180 of the members of his chamber have pledged their support for Mrs. Arroyo, leaving just 56 as potential supporters of the opposition’s amended complaint.

For his part, Datumanong said in a radio interview over the weekend his committee hoped to wrap up the impeachment hearings before the first congressional break on Sept. 10.

Meanwhile, various militant and anti-Arroyo groups will draw thousands to participate in what they called a "do-or-die Tuesday" in a bid to thwart perceived moves by administration allies at the House of Representatives to kill the impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo.

Father Joe Dizon, convenor of the Gloria Step Down Movement, a broad network of anti-Arroyo forces, said that Tuesday could just be a "do or die" for the amended impeachment complaint so it is imperative for the people to come out to the streets and frustrate attempts to suppress the truth.

"If the majority kills the amended impeachment complaint, that would virtually spell the end for the impeachment process, unless pro-impeachment lawmakers get the 79 (endorsements) necessary to transmit the complaint immediately to the Senate," said Dizon.

Demonstrators for tomorrow’s protest rally will assemble at the St. Peter’s Church on Commonwealth Avenue with a Mass to be celebrated by Bishop Antonio Tobias of Novaliches. The White Ribbon Movement, reportedly of the middle forces, will co-sponsor the Mass.

Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes for his part blasted the "horse-trading and political maneuverings" of the administration on the impeachment complaint. — Jess Diaz, Katherine Adraneda