Impeach complainants hope for miracle

With the odds stacked against them, President Arroyo’s foes conceded yesterday that their quest for her impeachment may fail but they remained hopeful that a miracle will save the day.

Malacañang, on the other hand, remained unperturbed by the fresh bid to force Mrs. Arroyo from office mainly over electoral fraud allegations.

Presidential chief of staff Michael Defensor said Malacañang is more concerned right now about the country’s problems such as the plight of Filipinos in Lebanon, where Israeli forces are battling Hezbollah militants, as well as the safety of residents living near restive Mayon volcano in Albay.

Arroyo critics seeking her impeachment acknowledged yesterday that they do not have enough backing in the administration-dominated House of Representatives.

"We will pursue this impeachment even if the numbers are against us. You don’t know, miracles can happen," former transportation undersecretary Josefina Lichauco told reporters in a briefing.

Lichauco, who was among the signatories of a second impeachment complaint filed on June 26, said "it is not our intention to gather the required numbers of signatures, but we want to make sure that the message is delivered to the members of Congress."

"We are hoping that they would allow for the evidence to be presented and let the truth come out. Numbers are against us primarily, but we are hopeful that they would give us a chance even at the committee level," she added.

Administration lawmakers said the minority bloc in the House are now just saving face following reports that 10 of the 51 congressmen who endorsed the complaint last year have abandoned them.

"There’s no more hope for them. Impeachment has now become a dead cause. It has further rendered hopeless the impeachment bid against the President," said Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan.

"It doesn’t matter if they get humiliated by the failure of their impeachment case as long as they stay in the political scene. Sadly, these politicians also used the complaint as deodorant to mask the stench of partisan politics," he added.

Ilocos Sur Rep. Salacnib Baterina said the decision of the House opposition to pursue the case is nothing but an effort to gain publicity image points "at the expense of the President."

"Their antics to project themselves as heroic or righteous won’t work because we in the majority know that what they are pursuing are baseless and recycled impeachment complaints," he said.

House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles had earlier aired doubts that the minority bloc can muster the needed 78 votes from congressmen, or one-third of the 234-member chamber, to send an impeachment complaint straight to the Senate for trial.

Yesterday, some 30 members of advocacy group Migrante, which promotes the welfare of Filipinos working abroad, joined the hundreds of signatories in the impeachment complaint, along with 1,000 members of the Citizens Battle Against Corruption, the party-list group of Rep. Joel Villanueva.

Migrante held Mrs. Arroyo liable for an alleged diversion of P530 million in medical care funding for Filipino migrant workers to her 2004 election campaign kitty.

"The President has no business dipping her hands in to OFWs’ money as it is a private trust fund which was set up for the benefit of OFWs and their families alone. It is beyond her power to transfer it to Philhealth," said Connie Regalado, head of Migrante International.

With Mrs. Arroyo’s impeachment apparently slim, administration officials have been urging the opposition to quit and "give the country a break."

Defensor said the country has to deal with several urgent problems, especially the welfare of thousands of Filipinos caught in the fighting in Lebanon where Israel is trying to root out Hezbollah militants.

Local civil defense officials are preparing for a possible major eruption of Mayon Volcano in Albay.

"The public wants to have their needs addressed amid all these political noise," Defensor said. "Right now, the Cabinet is focused on pump priming activities as well as irrigation projects and farm to market roads."

Defensor echoed an earlier statement made by Roman Catholic bishops that the renewed impeachment bid against Mrs. Arroyo would be a waste of time.

"As far as I’m concerned, I have no more time for the impeachment. What is important now is for us to be able to do what we have to do and address the problems of the people," Defensor said.

Mrs. Arroyo said she would focus on getting the country’s fragile economy back on its feet rather than dwell on the attacks against her, adding that the country can achieve more without the political bickering.

Mrs. Arroyo said she will continue to push for amendments to the Constitution and change the country’s form of government to speed up the legislative process and open up the economy to more investments.

"When I make my State of the Nation Address on Monday, I will be explaining to the people that for purposes of putting public investments, we have divided the economy of the Philippines into four sub-economies or super regions we might call them, divided in accordance with their natural competitive advantage," she said.

She said the northern Philippines and Mindanao would be marketed and developed for agribusiness while Metro Luzon, the urban beltway around Metro Manila from Clark Field in Pampanga and Subic Bay, Olongapo to Batangas port and would be the center for service and industry.

Mrs. Arroyo said Metro Luzon should be the urban center that could compete with the rest of the metropolises in the world.

Central Philippines — composed of the Visayas, Palawan, Romblon, Bicol and the northern islands of Mindanao — will be the centers of tourism, she said.

"And this is where we will be spending the new money that we are now receiving as part of our (expanded value-added tax) dividends," she said. — With Aurea Calica