Opposition leaders understand Zuce’s turnaround

Opposition leaders in the House of Representative said they don’t blame former Senate witness Michaelangelo Zuce for jumping into the fence of the administration. House Minority leader Rep. Francis Escudero (Sorsogon) and Minority Deputy leader Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros), said Zuce just wanted to make a living to support his family. “Nobody forced him to become a witness in the first place. So, nobody has the right to prevent him if he wanted to work with the government," Cayetano said. Escudero said Zuce didn’t retract the testimony he gave in a Senate hearing that President Arroyo met with some Commission on Election (Comelec) officials based in Mindanao in her residence in Quezon City, days before the May 10, 2004 presidential election. In his testimony, Zuce, a relative of former Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano, said Arroyo handed money to poll officials after the meeting. Escudero is confident that the second impeachment plan is more powerful than the previous even if Zuce is now in the fold of the administration. “Sa simula’t simula ay wala naman sa listahan ng mga witness namin sa impeachment si Zuce, kaya walang epekto sa ihahain naming bagong impeachment case ang kanyang paglipat sa administrasyon," the minority solon explained. Rep. Ronaldo Zamora (San Juan), head of the impeachment legal panel, said their witnesses in the second impeachment are all accounted for and intact. Meanwhile Majority leader Rep. Prospero Nograles (Davao City), believes that Zuce’s testimony before the Senate can no longer be used in the impeachment proceeding. “He is such an incredible hulk of a witness so his testimony has no value, especially when he said that the opposition used him and did not take care of him anymore. Reps. Monico Puentevella (Bacolod City) and Marcelino Libanan (Eastern Samar) said they expect the opposition would to be more active these days to produce a replacement pseudo-witness to Zuce and manufacture new charges against the President in anticipation of their second impeachment complaint in July. They added that Zuce’s transfer to the administration camp is a big setback to the opposition’s campaign to oust Arroyo. “For sure the ‘witness academy’ of the opposition will be more active these days because they know they need to raise new issues against the President this time, thus, they are in dire need for a new set of fresh graduates," Libanan said. –GMANews.TV