P5 million to sign impeachment complaint?

DAVAO CITY — Congressmen were not paid P5 million each to sign the impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., a ranking House leader said yesterday.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay Jr., chairman of the House committee on defense, said the filing of the impeachment complaint was an initiative of congressmen belonging to the National People’s Coalition (NPC).

"I believe they did it on their own conviction," he said, refuting reports that they were paid off. "NPC is known being a strongly cohesive group so that whenever they decide on an issue, as a party, they would definitely adhere to that party decision."

Pichay, who dropped by here on his way back to Manila from Surigao del Sur, said money did not change hands when the impeachment complaint against Davide was filed before the House of Representatives last Thursay.

"Who do you think would invest P400 million for such a purpose, if indeed those who signed received P5 million each?" he asked.

Pichay said protesting regional trial court judges and other judiciary workers must respect the constitutional mandate of Congress to initiate impeachment proceedings against Davide.

"Impeachment is the sole function of Congress," he said. "It is not a function of law. It is both a legal and political exercise. So, they should understand and respect the impeachment proceedings in the same way that Congress respects the proceedings in the Supreme Court."

An impeachment trial would give Davide a venue to clear himself, and that if he is not guilty, it could be proven before the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, he added.

Meanwhile, lawyers belonging to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Butuan City-Agusan del Norte Chapter (IBP) and judges in municipal and regional trial courts in the Caraga Region have thrown their support behind Davide.

At a press conference outside the Hall of Justice in Butuan City, lawyers, court employees, judges and prosecutors wearing black arm bands condemned the impeachment complaint as politically motivated and unconstitutional.

Executive Judge Victor Tomaneng said the second impeachment complaint against Davide is "clearly and unmistakably abhorred by the Constitution."

Tomaneng urged the people to join lawyers and members of the judiciary in their nationwide protest against the transmittal of the impeachment complaint from the House to the Senate.

On the other hand, officials of the IBP Agusan del Norte-Butuan City Chapter lambasted congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint against Davide.

"The Judiciary Development Fund is only a small fraction of what the honorable congressmen in the House are receiving from their Countryside Development Fund," said the lawyers.

Lawyer James Reserva, president of the IBP Agusan del Norte-Butuan City chapter, said the impeachment is not only an attack against the person of Davide, but an "insidious assault" against the independence of the judiciary. — With Ben Serrano

"The political impact of such reckless move given the fact that our economy is at lowest ebb, will cause the erosion of investor confidence and our people’s trust in our judicial system," said the lawyers in a statement.

"If not timely opposed and resisted, it will push the nation to the edge of cataclysm and eventual anarchy. As lawyers we stand solidly behind the Constitution and strongly resist and oppose this naked and shameless display of political and economic arrogance at the expense of our democratic institutions."

The lawyers said Butuan City Rep. Leovigildo Banaag and Agusan del Sur Rep. Rodolfo Plaza, who signed the impeachment complaint along with 87 other lawmakers, have a lot to explain to their constituents in the Caraga region.