MANILA, Philippines – “Please kill it softly, gently.”
This was the appeal of a senior member of the 28-member minority bloc in the House of Representatives to their colleagues regarding the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.
“We hope they would give the impeach case a chance and talk about it seriously,” Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casiño told reporters in a briefing.
“This is the only danger we foresee, just like what happened to the three impeachment complaints filed in 2005, 2006 and 2007, which were all thrown out,” Casiño said.
He admitted though, like Deputy Minority Leaders Roilo Golez and Satur Ocampo, that not all opposition members would support the complaint.
Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, chairman of the House committee on justice, will conduct the first hearing today on the impeachment complaint filed by businessman Jose de Venecia III, son of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.
Casiño said he expects the Defensor panel to pass the De Venecia complaint on sufficiency in form, but will dilly-dally and eventually dismiss it once the test on its substance is taken up.
“Railroading will once again be the name of the game.”
The opposition bloc will also question the four-day marathon hearing the Defensor committee set, expressing fear this might again lead to an “unprecedented” violation of rules on impeachment, resulting in its early dismissal.
“I think they plan to pass this on sufficiency in form, isasabit nila sa (but block it on) substance, but they will do it in a haphazard, very blatant manner, that they would not give a chance for complainants and endorsers to present their case,” Casiño said.
“We are not in favor of marathon sessions because there are at least seven causes of action. These are issues that we have to thresh out,” he pointed out.
Golez and Ocampo, two stalwarts of the minority bloc, earlier agreed that there would be no solid vote from their ranks if the impeachment complaint would be pushed to its limits.
Golez virtually conceded that this fourth impeachment complaint would most likely suffer the same fate as that of the three others in 2005, 2006, and 2007, which were all thrown out by administration allies for lack of merit.
Meanwhile, a religious group asked President Arroyo yesterday to intensify her campaign against corruption in the government, saying they do not support the call of five bishops for a new government.
In a statement, the Christian Bishops & Ministers Association of the Philippines (CBMAP) said: “We, the CBMAP, stand firm to pray for and obey those who are in authority, in the face of issues raised by some bishops of the Catholic Church calling for a ‘radical change of government’ which is being supported by some politically inclined non-Catholic Christian leaders. Change in government must only be done with the constitutional process, such as election.”
But the group urged the Arroyo administration to clean up the bureaucracy and remove corrupt officials from office.
Five members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), calling themselves the “Circle of Discernment,” recently jointly batted for radical reforms and an end to corruption in government.
They were CBCP president and Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, Lingayen-Dagupan Archishop Oscar Cruz, Bataan Bishop Socrates Villegas, Masbate Bishop Joel Baylon and Legaspi Emeritus Bishop Jose Sorra. – With Evelyn Macairan