Philippine House committee junks Arroyo impeachment
26/11/2008 15:59
The justice committee of the House of Representative today junked an
impeachment complaint against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo after
declaring it insufficient in substance.
After a marathon hearing on the
impeachment complaint, the House justice committee voted 42-8, rejecting the
latest impeachment complaint against Arroyo, who had survived three impeachment
bids since she came to power in 2001.
The latest complaint detailed
allegations of bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, and
violation of the Constitution. The presidential palace had denied all the
charges.
The committee will report its decision to the plenary for either
adoption or rejection. The opposition needs the support of at least one third of
the House members to revive the complaint.
The vice-chairman of the House
Justice committee Edcel Lagman said the new impeachment complaint filed against
Arroyo is based on "rehashed and recycled" materials.
House Speaker Prospero
C. Nograles said the entire impeachment proceedings was done in an open and
transparent manner until it was finally proven to have failed the constitutional
test of sufficiency in substance.
Opposition congressmen, however, insisted
that they were able to establish that the new impeachment complaint is
sufficient in substance.
The forth impeachment complaint against Arroyo was
filed and endorsed by opposition congressmen led by the President's former ally
Jose de Venecia Jr., the former House Speaker who was ousted by
pro-administration congressmen earlier this year.
The relation of De Venecia
family and Arroyo family turns sour during the investigation of a
telecommunication scandal that started last year and snowballed into one of the
serious scandals involving the Arroyo family in recent years.
Impeachment
charges have been filed against the chief executive of the country every year in
the Congress lower chamber since 2005.
Xinhua
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