Joker: House to impeach Estrada

The House of Representatives will impeach President Estrada on at least three charges, Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo said yesterday.

"The numbers already indicate that," said Arroyo, who expressed confidence that opposition congressmen and various people’s organizations who have signed the impeachment complaint against the President can get the needed 73 votes to send the petition to the Senate for trial.

He said 53 House members have already signed the petition, "10 have firm pledges to sign, while 12 have indicated that they too will co-sign the complaint," for a total of 75.

"The fastidious House justice committee will be bypassed and the charges against the President might be resolved sooner than expected. The evidence cited to support the complaint is strong," stressed the former executive secretary.

He added that the charges for which the impeachment petitioners have strong evidence are: that Mr. Estrada received jueteng money and tax kickback from former drinking buddy Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson of Ilocos Sur, that he ordered former chairman Perfecto Yasay of the Securities and Exchange Commission to clear his friend Dante Tan in the BW Resources stock manipulation scandal, and that he has ill-gotten wealth, including lavish mansions for his mistresses in the names of dummies.

The President has denied these and other charges leveled against him in the impeachment complaint.

Arroyo is one of the nine opposition congressmen seating in the 51-member justice committee. He has not yet signed the complaint, although his colleagues have no doubt that he will support the move to remove Mr. Estrada from office.

"The ball will be in the Senate court," he said.

Rep. Roilo Golez of Parañaque, one of the signatories to the impeachment petition, shared Arroyo’s optimism on the ability of the petitioners to muster the required 73 votes.

But unlike the Makati congressman, Golez expressed fears that the justice committee, under temporary presiding officer Rep. Neptali Gonzalez (LAMP, Mandaluyong), will dismiss the complaint outright.

He said Gonzalez has met with Mr. Estrada at Malacañang upon the latter’s invitation "in spite of the filing of the impeachment case which he knew should be decided upon by his committee."

He said the Mandaluyong congressman accepted the job of temporary presiding officer "in spite of all the doubts on his impartiality."

He urged Gonzalez to resign from the justice committee.

Gonzalez told reporters last Friday that he was ready to step down if committee members do not trust him.

"Kung ayaw nila sa akin, ayaw ko rin sa kanila (If they don’t want me, I don’t want them). I won’t salivate at this task," he said.

In a related development, Rep. Juan Miguel Zubiri (Lakas, Bukidnon) laughed off Malacañang appeals for the opposition to give Mr. Estrada another chance to reform, saying the President is beyond repair.

"He has goofed and stumbled many times to our detriment. We cannot afford a President who is perpetually on training wheels. Amateur Hour in Malacañang has dragged on for too long," Zubiri said.

He said like a bad product, Mr. Estrada must now be recalled and not merely be reformed.

To Cabinet members suggesting a makeover for their Palace boss, the Bukidnon congressman appealed: Work instead for the peaceful transfer of power to the President’s constitutional successor.