Tancangco relieved by House rejection of impeachment rap

The morning after the House of Representatives voted down the impeachment complaint against her, beleaguered Commission on Elections (Comelec) Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco said yesterday she felt relieved that lawmakers finally decided to see "that she had done nothing wrong."

"I have left my fate to God since the news of the impeachment broke out. I asked Him what have I done to deserve this kind of national attention. I have done nothing wrong," said an elated Tancangco in a radio interview.

The House voted 69-57 late Monday to throw out the impeachment complaint against Tancangco for lack of substance.

The chamber affirmed the recommendation of the committee on justice in dismissing the complaint initiated by National Citizen’s Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel) chairman Jose Concepcion, despite criticisms by some congressmen that its report was flawed.

Namfrel, meanwhile, urged the House of representatives to allow the 93 congressman who failed to vote on the impeachment complaint to cast their vote.

"We like to appeal to the members of Congress to allow the 93 representatives who were not able to vote on this matter to cast their vote and correspondingly explain such vote, even as Congress makes its appointment with history..." Namfrel said in a statement signed by Concepcion and his co-chairman, Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez.

Namfrel said it made the appeal so that constituents of these representatives would be able to fully appreciate the convictions of the men and women they have elected to represent them in Congress.