Impeach rap vs GMA filed today

BY ASHZEL HACHERO

JOSE "Joey" de Venecia III and civil society groups will file today the fourth impeachment complaint against President Arroyo before the House of Representatives.

UP Law Professor Harry Roque said they would be at the Batasan complex in Quezon City early in the morning.

"Last year, lawyer Roel Pulido filed an impeachment case endorsed by Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis, an ally of the Arroyo administration. We are preventing Pulido or any stalwart to block this complaint against the President since there can only be one impeachment complaint per year," Roque said.

Aside from Pulido, lawyer Oliver Lozano filed an impeachment complaint in 2005 and 2006. The House dismissed the three complaints one after the other for lack of substance.

The petitioners were scheduled to file the complaint at 7 p.m. last Saturday but the Office of the House Secretary General was closed.

House secretary general Marilyn Yap, who was supposed to receive the complaint, flew to Switzerland on short notice.

The one-year bar to impeaching the President expired Saturday.

Joining De Venecia Jr. and Roque are Iloilo Vice Gov. Rolex Suplico; Edita Burgos, Concepcion Empeno and Erlinda Cadapan who are mothers of missing activists; former Transportation assistant secretary Josefina Lichauco; actor Rez Cortez; Black and White Movement conveners Leah Navarro and Linggoy Alcuaz; and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas chair Danilo Ramos.

The 97-page complaint accuses Arroyo of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and graft and corruption.

The allegations are anchored on the anomalous ZTE broadband deal; the government’s aborted memorandum of agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front over ancestral domain; and the multi-billion swine, fertilizer and seeds scam in the Department of Agriculture; the multi-billion peso NorthRail project; and the controversial Joint Maritime Seismic Understanding regarding the exploration of oil and other resources at the South China Sea.

Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile warned the "impeachers" not to use the $503 million NorthRail and NBN-ZTE broadband project as their case could boomerang on former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

The NorthRail, considered the government’s flagship project, will connect Caloocan City and Bulacan province. The overall cost is nearly P1 billion per kilometer.

Enrile said it is a fact that De Venecia was behind the controversial award of the railways project to the China National Machinery and Equipment Group as he was asked by the former Speaker to stop questioning the railway project.

He said De Venecia’s fingerprints could again be found in the broadband network deal as he arranged a meeting with the stakeholders that included his son Joey.

Enrile advised the impeachers to expect strong resistance at the House since it is dominated by President Arroyo’s allies. "Impeachment is a political case, a question of numbers." – With Dennis Gadil