SC asked to reconsider ruling junking impeachment vs GMA

Lawyer Ernest Francisco yesterday asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its Sept. 13 ruling junking his petition to nullify the House of Representatives vote of 158-51 that dismissed the three impeachment complaints against President Arroyo.

In an urgent, 13-page motion for reconsideration, Francisco said Rule XVIII, Section 127 of the rules adopted by the House on Oct. 27, 2004 provides that "when a bill, report or motion is adopted or lost, a member who voted with the majority may move for its reconsideration on the same or succeeding session day."

"Only one motion for reconsideration shall be allowed," Francisco said, quoting the House rules. "The motion shall take precedence over all other questions, except a motion to adjourn and a motion to declare recess. No bill, resolution, memorial or petition committed to a committee or ordered to be printed shall be brought back to the House on a motion to reconsider."

Francisco said the House’s dismissal of the impeachment complaint against the President was a grave abuse of discretion, and an act in which the lower chamber acted in excess of its jurisdiction, thereby depriving ordinary citizens of their right to file an impeachment complaint, to be heard and to prove their charges.

"The resolution of the instant petition may settle, once and for all, constitutional issues regarding impeachment," he said.

Meanwhile, Malacañang expressed hope that the Supreme Court would respect the decision of the House.

Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said that while the Executive department cannot preempt the decision of the high court, the opposition must now accept the results of the impeachment process they initiated against the President.

"The House voted according to the law," Bunye said. "The numbers were for the President."

"Our call (to the opposition) is: Let’s move on. We have a lot of jobs to do and we cannot afford to have a stalemate all the time," he added.

Bunye said Congress must now focus on more important things, such as passing the General Appropriations Act (GAA), the anti-terrorism bill and proposed measures to address the looming oil crisis.

"I think all of these (measures) deserve the attention of Congress," he added.

The House was the proper forum for tackling the impeachment, he said, adding that the President was confident that the congressmen’s decision would be upheld since she has done nothing wrong.

"The President is not bothered by the case that is being filed to contest the House of Representatives’ decision," Bunye said.

Besides Francisco’s petition, Cebu Reps. Clavel Martinez and several private lawyers asked the SC to nullify the House decision on the impeachment complaint.

Martinez and the lawyers sought the SC nullification of the House vote because members of the House allegedly committed "grave abuse of discretion" and exercised power "in a despotic manner" in dismissing three complaints — which included charges of vote-rigging and corruption — against Mrs. Arroyo.

The original impeachment complaint was the weakest, filed by a private lawyer, and it was dismissed by the House justice committee for being insufficient in substance. The two other impeachment complaints were barred on the grounds that the Constitution allows the filing of only one impeachment complaint against the same official over a period of one year.

"These are the only threshold matters to be deliberated upon by the (House) committee on justice on the sufficiency of an impeachment complaint. Nothing more, nothing less," Martinez and the lawyers said in their petition.