New impeach try vs Arroyo set
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/10/2008 6:01 PM
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No less than the son of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. is set to file a new impeachment complaint against President Arroyo a year after the last impeachment complaint against the President was filed at the House of Representatives.
Jose "Joey" de Venecia III said he will file the same complaint against Arroyo three times in as many days starting Saturday, October 11, which is the exact date when the one-year immunity of filing another impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo will expire.
The next filing will be on Sunday, October 11, to coincide with the filing of last year's complaint while the last will be on Monday, October 12.
The new complaint accuses President Arroyo of betrayal of public trust after she approved the national broadband deal with the Chinese firm ZTE Corp. De Venecia testified in the Senate blue-ribbon committee that the deal was overpriced by at least $130 million.
The complaint accused Mrs. Arroyo of culpable violation for approving the Northrail rehabilitation project and numerous human rights violations; bribery for her role in the ZTE-NBN deal; and graft and corruption for her administration's involvement in various irregularities including the P728 million fertilizer scam, P2 billion swine scam and alleged ballot-switching in the 2004 presidential election.
Congressmen Satur Ocampo, Luz Ilagan and Teodoro Casiño are set to endorse the complaints on the three dates. Among those who signed the complaint are the leaders of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Black and White Movement. Concerned Citizens' Movement, Filipinos for Peace, Justice and Progress Movement and various human rights groups.
Numbers not there
Speaker Prospero Nograles welcomed the filing of the complaint and said he will ask the House secretary-general to be on standby even on the weekend to receive the complaint.
"I don't want to be accused that we were already informed about the filing and then we closed the office. Maybe we will ask them to work half-day, ask them to standby for a while and see if something happens," Nograles told House reporters.
Nograles said the filing of the complaint does not necessitate physical filing and it can be sent via registered mail. He said the Lower House can consider the complaint as long as a congressman endorses the complaint. "We cannot refuse it because it is endorsed by a congressman and it will undergo the substantive, procedural and political process of impeachment," he said.
He added, however, that he will make sure that the impeachment complaint will not disrupt the budget process and passage of important pieces of legislation.
Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo said he will endorse the complaint, along with members of other progressive party list groups like Bayan Muna, Gabriela and Anakpawis, even if they have yet to get the one-third votes needed to automatically transmit the complaint to the Senate.
He added, however, that filing the complaint is still important to make a statement against the President.
"Whether or not we get the one-third endorsement is not central now. What we need is to register it at the House and let the people know about it," he said.
He also said he does not support one aspect of the complaint, which accuses the President of violating the Philippine Constitution in crafting the memorandum of agreement on ancestral domain with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
