House plenary set to dismiss Arroyo impeach rap

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 12/02/2008 6:04 PM

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The House of Representatives, in plenary session, is expected to sustain the decision of the House justice committee dismissing the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The House rules committee has formally forwarded the report to the House plenary, and all members of the House are expected to vote on it during the session scheduled Tuesday.

Each member of the House may opt to explain his or her vote, so voting is expected to drag late into the evening.

This will be the last stage of the impeachment complaint proceedings before it is junked altogether, insulating the President from yet another impeachment complaint for at least a year following the one-year bar rule in the Constitution.

The House justice committee voted 42-8 last week to dismiss the impeachment complaint.

The outnumbered opposition congressmen expect to lose this final round of voting, but they intend to use this round to reiterate their arguments against the President.

The minority numbers only around 20 to 30, short of the 80 votes required to reverse the House justice committee's decision and transmit the impeachment complaint to the Senate for trial.

This impeachment is the fourth in four years for President Arroyo. Previous complaints starting in 2005 have all been defeated by President Arroyo's allies in the House.

This year's impeachment complaint accuses Arroyo of bribery, graft and corruption, betryal of public trust, and violation of the Constitution for cases such as the NBN-ZTE deal and also human rights violations.

Running priest: Extend CARP

Meanwhile, running priest Father Robert Reyes used the Batasang Pambansa as a starting point for another protest run over moves in Congress to amend the Constitution.

As of posting, Reyes was set to run towards the office of the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) in Elliptical road to call for the passage of the extended Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP), which he said will benefit the farmers.

Gabriela: Probe bribery

On the same day, Gabriela party list representatives Liza Maza and Luzviminda Ilagan filed Resolution 893, which calls on the House to investigate the alleged incidents of bribery in 2007 involving members of the House, and the reported distribution of money to congressional allies of President Arroyo at the Linden Suites, supposedly to kill the 2008 impeachment complaint filed against the President.

Gabriela wants the House to lead efforts to get to the bottom of these allegations. This includes former House Speaker Jose de Venecia's claim that he was given P500,000 last year by the President in order for him to endorse a weak impeachment complaint.

Another allegation involves the President spending as much as P100 million in bribes to give her legal protection from impeachment raps for at least a year. -- reports from WILLARD CHENG, ABS-CBN News

as of 12/02/2008 6:04 PM