GMA impeachment not motivated by political ambition — Escudero

Seeking the ouster of President Arroyo through the constitutionally prescribed impeachment process was not a product of the political ambitions of young opposition congressmen, the leader of the House minority bloc said.

Without confirming speculations that most of them would be running for the Senate in May 2007, Minority Leader Francis Escudero said it was unfair for people to judge that they only sought the President’s impeachment to gain media mileage.

"Masakit isipin na iyun ang ibinabato sa amin, ngunit alam naman natin na hindi totoo iyun (motivated by ambition) dahil ang tanging hangad namin ay ang buong katotohanan (It pains us to be accused of that which isn’t true because our only goal is to seek out the truth)," Escudero told a crowd at St. Peter’s Church in Quezon City.

"Hindi naman ito pa-pogihan, hindi ito pa-cute(an) sa harap ng camera. Ito ay trabaho na dapat gampanan upang maipakita ang katotohanan at para mapangalagaan ang katotohanan (This is not about trying to look good in front of the camera. This is a job that needs to be done in order to reveal the truth and protect it)," a visibly irritated Escudero told reporters.

House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles, however, refuses to buy this.

"The motives of the opposition in the impeachment were quite obvious. Without the numbers from the start, they got all the mileage in media that they wanted. But it’s all over. We should all reconcile," Nograles stressed.

Escudero also lamented that people have continuously ignored calls for the ouster of Mrs. Arroyo on charges of massive and widespread corruption.

In the latest Pulse Asia survey for senatorial hopefuls, Escudero did not make it to the Top 12, but was among eight others who have a "statistical chance" of winning next year, according to Pulse Asia.

The June 24 to July 8 survey saw former senator Loren Legarda leading 19 lawmakers and politicians who have a "statistical chance" of winning a Senate seat if the May 2007 midterm elections were held today.

Most members of the minority bloc in the House are reportedly running for senator next year, but all of them have so far played coy about it, neither confirming nor denying the persistent rumors.

Among those perceived to be running are House Deputy Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and Reps. Gilbert Remulla of Cavite, Teddy Casiño and Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna and Imee Marcos of Ilocos Norte.

Taguig-Pateros Rep. Cayetano, who ranked eighth behind Legarda in the uncommissioned Pulse Asia poll, has neither confirmed nor denied his plans. He would only note that his late father Rene and elder sister Pia won in the Senate without being members of the opposition.

He told Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte in one of their debates in the plenary that he actually did not need his post in the minority bloc, especially since teachers in his area have been transferred and his constituents have been deprived of pork barrel funds.

Escudero, meantime, has been threatened to be replaced as minority leader after his colleagues complained of his failure to expel recalcitrant members who refused to toe their pro-impeachment line in 2005 and this year.

Escudero was forced to impose sanctions but did not make good on his promise to "expel" erring members from their ranks, except giving them the option to leave the party. He only stripped them of their committee memberships.

This prompted Quezon City Rep. Vincent "Bingbong" Crisologo to call Escudero an "ingrate and a coward."

"Escudero was elected minority floor leader because of us. Without us, (he would not have been) the minority leader. He is an ungrateful person."

"Nagmamakaawa si Escudero sa amin (Escudero was pleading with us) and since he was the youngest and we thought at that time that he was the most promising — and I think we’ve been proven wrong — we went for him. I think, he’s an ungrateful person," Crisologo stressed.

Crisologo, a former convict who is now a preacher, said Escudero was not only a "very weak leader" but was also suspected of having "hanky-panky" business with the government. He refused to elaborate.

The "us" he was referring to were Reps. Luis "Baby" Asistio and Oscar Malapitan, both of Caloocan City, Antonio Serapio of Valenzuela and himself, or the so-called "Big Four" in the House. They all refused to vote for Mrs. Arroyo’s impeachment in 2005 and this year.