Battle rages for 79 signatures toward final stand

First posted 01:26am (Mla time) Sept 02, 2005
By Philip C. Tubeza, Michael Lim Ubac
Inquirer News Service

PRO-IMPEACHMENT lawmakers yesterday said the "tug of war" over the 79 signatures for presentation to the House of Representatives in plenary session on Monday remained fierce, with the number increasing and decreasing "by the hour."

But House Minority Leader Francis Escudero expressed optimism that the "final conflict" would end with the Senate sitting as an impeachment court to try President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. "We will make our last stand at the plenary," he declared.

At press time yesterday, the pro-impeachment team said nine more lawmakers would be added to the 73 who had endorsed the amended impeachment complaint.

The nine were identified as Representatives Antonio Roman (Liberal Party, Bataan), Jesus Crispin Remulla (Partido Magdalo, Cavite), Romualdo Vicencio (Lakas, Samar), Laurence Wacnang (LP, Kalinga), Agapito "Butz" Aquino (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Makati), Teodoro Locsin (PDP-Laban, Makati), Danton Bueser (LP, Laguna), Constantino Jaraula (Lakas, Cagayan de Oro) and Emilio Macias (Nationalist People's Coalition, Negros Oriental).

Except for Macias, who is not a member of the House committee on justice, the nine lawmakers had voted against, or abstained from voting on, the majority decision junking all three impeachment complaints on Wednesday.

But Nueva Vizcaya Representative Rodolfo Agbayani, a member of the LDP faction led by Senator Edgardo Angara, said he had withdrawn his signature from the amended complaint because the justice committee had not given "due course" to the complaint.

Agbayani said he had submitted a manifestation to the House secretary general because he was scheduled to go abroad on Sunday on a trip that was organized by the special committee on reforestation long before the impeachment complaints were filed.

Only 48

With Agbayani's withdrawal, the pro-impeachment camp was left with only 48 signatures formally submitted to the House secretary general. The plenary is expected to vote on the committee report dismissing the impeachment complaints against Ms Arroyo on Monday.

Butz Aquino blamed Angara for Agbayani's defection.

"Isn't it obvious that he had a hand in this? He has always been suspected as pro-Gloria," said Aquino, a member of the LDP faction led by Senator Panfilo Lacson.

"It's an absolute falsehood. It's the work of my political enemy. Agbayani is a very intelligent and responsible public servant who can't be dictated upon by anybody," Angara said.

Wishful thinking

In Malacañang, Ms Arroyo's political adviser Gabriel Claudio said it was "wishful thinking" on the part of the pro-impeachment team that they would secure 79 votes.

A Palace official, who asked not to be identified, said four more congressmen were expected to withdraw their endorsements.

"There is a creeping demoralization in the minority," the official told the Inquirer in trying to explain why the early endorsers were having a change of heart.

In a phone interview, Claudio said he doubted the opposition needed just six more signatures.

"The more they make those claims, the more apparent that they are bluffing," he said. "Obviously, they're stepping up their psywar to gain their numbers."

Up and down

Despite Agbayani's defection, Escudero and Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teodoro Casiño said they were confident the pro-impeachment team would get more than the required number.

"Every hour, the configuration changes. This is really a tug of war until the last moment when we get the 79 votes," Casiño said.

Escudero added: "Definitely, [the number is] increasing but, you know, this is like a swing now that the [critical vote on Monday] is nearing. It goes up and then it goes down. We get two additional votes, but then one withdraws. We get three more, but two are deducted. This is probably the story of impeachment in the country. But we are confident and we believe that we will muster the required numbers.

"We should remember that we are up against the highest and most powerful official in the country. It cannot be denied that this is an uphill battle. But we are not going to stop until we gather the required 79 votes, or more than that."

Casiño said some of those who had promised to sign wanted their names revealed only during the plenary voting.

"We're trying to convince them that it would be too late by then, and that it's better that they sign. We need only six more votes but our target is more or less 20 votes," he said.

Escudero said the higher target of 20 was needed as a buffer against possible defections.

"They say that if we get 79, one would withdraw. But how sure are they that we would muster only 79?" he said, laughing.

'Second of a series'

But House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles cautioned the opposition against being too optimistic, saying Agbayani's decision to withdraw was the "second of a series" started by Representative Eulogio Rodriguez of the party-list Alliance of Volunteer Educators (AVE).

Nograles had claimed that more than a week ago, seven impeachment endorsers were having secret talks with him to determine how they could withdraw their signatures.

He said five more were coming out to pledge support to Ms Arroyo.

Taguig-Pateros Representative Alan Peter Cayetano said leaders of the impeachment team had divided themselves into five groups to get more signatures.

An administration lawmaker who had signed the complaint admitted to the Inquirer that he was the leader of one of the five groups now going "house to house."

"We have decided to bring the issues right at the doorstep of our fellow lawmakers who are sympathetic to our cause but have yet to affix their signatures," said the legislator who asked not to be named.

He reiterated what Escudero said the other day -- that the pro-impeachment team would overcome on Monday the majority's "tyranny of numbers."

'No shame'

Escudero said the lawmakers who had withdrawn their endorsements admitted that they could not resist the pressure from Malacañang.

"The picture keeps on changing," he said. "[Ms Arroyo] has no shame [when she] personally calls [lawmakers]. At least [Joseph Estrada] had his pride, saying, 'I won by the biggest margin [in any presidential race] in this country's history. How can they do this to me?'"

Escudero said the opposition would insist on Monday that the plenary vote separately on the dismissal of the three impeachment complaints.

He said the House impeachment rules required that any complaint dismissed by the justice committee would have to be reported in plenary.

Escudero also said that if the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order against the impeachment process, "we're not duty-bound [to follow it]."

"Actually, that would be a constitutional crisis because Congress and the tribunal are separate and co-equal branches of government. And Congress is performing a constitutional function which the Constitution itself places on the House [to perform]," he said.

According to Escudero, impeachment is "the only legal, constitutional, peaceful way for the President to answer for her wrongdoing."

'Express train'

Dubbed by Cayetano as the President's "express train," the House justice committee voted in rapid succession on Wednesday to recognize the original complaint filed by Oliver Lozano, effectively dismissing the complaint filed by Jose Lopez and the opposition's amended complaint.

The committee then voted to declare the Lozano complaint sufficient in form, only to declare it insufficient in substance by nightfall.

The committee then proceeded to approve its report in principle.

According to administration Representative Rodolfo Antonino of Nueva Ecija, the report, which is to be presented to the plenary on Monday for adoption, found that the amended and Lopez complaints were barred by the Lozano complaint; that the three were separate complaints; and that the Lozano complaint, although sufficient in form, was insufficient in substance.

On Tuesday, the pro-impeachment legislators walked out when justice committee chair Maguindanao Representative Simeon Datumanong stopped further debate and called for a vote on the "prejudicial questions."

The pros claimed that the proceedings were being railroaded. But pro-Arroyo lawmakers claimed the opposition was using its own theatrics, and called the walkout a desperate, premeditated bid to trigger street protests.

Disunity

Cayetano admitted that disunity was the opposition's biggest weakness.

"There is so much information. But the lack of adequate coordination [among us] prevented us from releasing the evidence at the proper time," he said, observing that the pros came from different political parties with divergent views.

"We were able to present to the public only 15 percent of our evidence to support the amended impeachment complaint. The people saw only the icing on the cake," he said.

Cayetano also lamented the lack of "public pressure" to compel House members to sign the amended complaint.

"With greater public pressure and evidence out in the open, not only would we get the 79, it would be much difficult for the administration to kill the impeachment in a thick-skinned way, which was what happened," he said. With a report from Christine O. Avendaño