Impeachment complaint vs Noy a 'mere scrap of paper'

MANILA, Philippines - The impeachment complaint filed by Marcos loyalist lawyer Oliver Lozano against President Aquino “is a mere scrap of paper,” a leader of the House of Representatives said yesterday.

“It is worthless because no one among the 285 members of the House wants to endorse it. No one wants to have anything to do with it,” said Rep. Florencio Noel of the party-list group An Waray.

Noel, chairman of the House accounts committee, said he did not think any member of the chamber would like to be an endorser of Lozano’s impeachment complaint.

“He is just wasting his time and money,” he said.

Lozano filed his original complaint via mail three weeks ago before congressmen resumed their session. The House returned it for lack of an endorser.

He accused Aquino of betraying the public trust by refusing to allow state funeral honors for the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

He said the President even ignored the recommendation of Vice President Jejomar Binay for the government to give Marcos military honors.

Lozano had hoped that Sorsogon Rep. Salvador Escudero III, who served as Bureau of Animal Industry director and agriculture secretary during the Marcos regime, would adopt his complaint.

Escudero had authored a resolution, signed by 200 House members, calling for a state funeral for his late boss.

However, even the former Marcos-era agriculture secretary does not want to touch Lozano’s complaint.

“President Aquino has already made a decision (on Marcos’ burial) and I respect that. I will not go to the extent of joining an effort to impeach him,” Escudero said.

Lozano has filed a supplemental complaint based on the administration’s decision to bar former President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo from leaving the country.

But the House has also returned his latest pleading.