President Arroyo is in no danger of being impeached until the end of her term in 2010 as her allies won most of the seats in the House of Representatives where impeachment proceedings begin, Malacañang said yesterday.
Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita said that impeaching Mrs. Arroyo “is always on the mind of the opposition” and the possibility of being able to muster enough numbers to succeed in impeaching the President has been discussed extensively, even before the congressional and local elections last May 14.
“The matter of impeachment, particularly in the House of Representatives, is a matter of numbers,” Ermita said. “If you look at that, I think we can clearly see that they (opposition) have very few numbers that can lead to the filing of an impeachment case.”
“Nobody can stop them from doing that but still, as of now we can see the numbers,” he said.
He said while it is a different story emerging in the Senate, with Genuine Opposition bets leading the race, the issue on impeachment begins in the House.
He said out of the 236-member House, only more than 20 of those elected come from the opposition.
He said a vote of a third of members of the chamber or 79 congressmen is required for Mrs. Arroyo to be impeached and for the complaint to be sent to the Senate for trial.
He recalled that the first impeachment try against Mrs. Arroyo in 2005 – on culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption – obtained only 56 votes. The second complaint last year got 32 votes from opposition lawmakers.
The second impeachment complaint included unexplained killings and various human rights violations allegedly committed by the administration.
The five administration parties that obtained majority in the House were Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats, Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino (Kampi), Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), Liberal Party-Atienza wing, Nacionalista Party (NP) and the Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP).
Lakas obtained 91 congressional seats while Kampi has 46 winning members. The NPC has 26 winning candidates; Liberal Party-Atienza wing, 16; NP, eight; and LDP, four. – Paolo Romero