Minority lawmakers from the House of Representatives on Wednesday criticized President Benigno Aquino III for supposedly "dictating" upon his allies from the Liberal Party (LP) to support the impeachment bid against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said Aquino should not have meddled with the Ombudsman’s impeachment case, so it would not be turned into a mere "partisan process." "Ang impeachment, hindi lang naman ‘yan partisan process. It is impressed with judicial process. ‘Wag naman sana diktahan ang mga kasama sa partido," Lagman said during a press briefing Wednesday. He added that the President should have allowed his party allies to just study the facts instead of rallying them behind the impeachment case.
Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, for her part, said Aquino must respect the independence of the legislative branch and must not turn it into an institution that merely follows his lead.
“Hindi maganda tingnan na ‘yung House parang sunud-sunod lang sa Presidente," Magsaysay said in a separate interview. Aquino, who chairs the ruling party (LP), appealed on Monday for support for the impeachment complaints against Gutierrez. In a speech during an LP gathering in Quezon City, the President said the impeachment case will serve as benchmark to determine who is for and against the people’s will. [See story:
Pro-admin solons heed PNoy on impeach case vs Merci]
’Rubber-stamping’ Aquino’s wish In a statement read by Magsaysay, the House minority members also criticized their colleagues from the lower chamber’s justice panel for “rubber-stamping the president's wish" by approving the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez on Tuesday. “Obviously, the administration is more preoccupied with arrogating more power for itself, in undermining our democracy, than in addressing matters that really matter to the people," they said. The House committee on justice on Tuesday
found probable cause to remove the Ombudsman from her post, paving the way for plenary deliberations and voting on the impeachment case. Lagman, who also chairs the minority Lakas-Kampi-Christian Muslim Democrat (Lakas-Kampi-CMD) party, said their bloc will not take a unified stand on Gutierrez’s case. “Conscience vote talaga ang tama," he said. Magsaysay, however, admitted that it will “not be difficult" for LP lawmaker to muster the numbers in the House to send the impeachment case to the Senate for trial now that it has taken a party stand on the matter. Under Section 3, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, the impeachment complaint against the Ombudsman will have to get a one-third vote of all House members—in this case, 94 affirmative votes— before it can be transmitted to the Senate for trial.
— LBG/RSJ, GMA News 
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