Erap: New impeach try vs Arroyo won't prosper
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/20/2008 1:20 PM
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No less than former president Joseph Estrada believes that the new impeachment complaint filed against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will not prosper.
Estrada, who was removed from office in a four-day bloodless revolt led by Arroyo, said the large number of administration congressmen and lack of unity among opposition lawmakers doomed the impeachment complaint from the start.
He said Malacañang would most likely pay off administration congressmen by funding their campaigns in the 2010 elections in exchange for not endorsing the complaint.
“Elections are near. Of course the President’s allies in Congress would need money and she would pay them. That’s why congressmen are happy with the impeachment being brought up because they get to have more money,” he told reporters at the grand media night of the Negros Press Club in Bacolod City.
The former president said that he will be travelling all over the country to unite members of the opposition and help in the selection of a presidential candidate for the 2010 election. He added that if no one will be chosen, he might run for president himself.
"I'm trying my best to unite them and have one presidential candidate to ensure the opposition's victory," he said.
The impeachment complaint accuses Mrs. Arroyo of betrayal of public trust after she approved the National Broadband Network (NBN) telecommunications deal with China's ZTE Corp., saying that the deal was overpriced by at least $130M.
Other grounds included in the complaint are:
- culpable violation of the Constitution for approving the Northrail rehabilitation project;
- numerous human rights violations;
- graft and corruption for her administration's involvement in various irregularities including the P728M fertilizer scam, P2B swine scam; and,
- alleged ballot-switching in the 2004 presidential election.
Impeachment complaints filed against the President in 2005, 2006 and 2007 all failed to get the needed one-third votes of the House of Representatives before it can be sent to the Senate for trial.
