Eddiegul, PJ "not aware" of impeachment doleout

CEBU, Philippines - At least two Cebuano lawmakers say they have no knowledge about the reported P1 million doleout President Benigno Aquino III allegedly gave to each of the 188 congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Rep. Pablo John Garcia (3rd district, Cebu) said he has not heard of such report.

“Likewise, I have not heard of any such thing being offered to anybody in the House of Representatives,” said Rep. Eduardo Gullas (1st district, Cebu).

Garcia and Gullas were the guests in yesterday’s weekly 888 News Forum at Marco Polo Plaza.

Rep. Pastor Alcover Jr. of the Alliance for Nationalism and Democracy (Anad) Partylist earlier slammed Aquino’s administration after his colleagues in Congress told him that they received P1 million each after signing the impeachment complaint.

Other Cebuano lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint denied having received P1 million.

Alcover, Representatives Pablo Garcia (2nd district), his son Pablo John and Gullas did not sign the Corona impeachment complaint.

Pablo John said he did not sign because he did not read the complaint. He added that the complaint was weak as presented and it was not referred to the House Committee on Justice when it was immediately transmitted to the Senate.

“We really do not have enough time to read the complaint, to deliberate and to assess the weight of the complaint against Chief Justice Corona,” Garcia said.

Gullas cited the same reason: “It’s difficult to sign something that I haven’t read. It would be sacrilege for a lawyer to sign anything that you have not read,” Gullas said.

He added that even House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte tried to explain to them in a caucus, but the impeachment complaint should be treated as if an ordinary bill before it is enrolled in the Senate.

A bill should be referred first to a committee who will conduct hearings before it will be presented to the plenary for deliberation and voting.

If approved, the bill will then be transmitted to the Senate.

Gullas said that even the flip-flopping by the Supreme Court on the cityhood of 16 municipalities has not brought him into signing the impeachment.

Gullas authored the conversion of Carcar and Naga in the first district into component cities.

“I don’t think flip-flopping would be a valid reason for impeachment especially because in the case of the 16 cities, Corona is just one vote and there were many others who voted,” Gullas said.

Both Garcia and Gullas said that Corona has been consistent in his vote on the 16 cities.

Gullas added that it was not the first time SC flip-flopped in their decision. (FREEMAN)