Osmena proposes to shorten process of impeachment

Senators proposed to cut short the process of removing a sitting president by reducing the number of needed votes from the House of Representatives to send an impeachment complaint to the Senate. Sen. Sergio Osmena proposed to cut the number of required votes from one-third to one-fifth of the total number of members of the House of Representatives. Osmena said it would be easier to impeach a president who betray the people and the Constitution. To impeach a president this time, the House needs to get 79 lawmakers supporting an impeachment compliant. The number is one third of the total 223-man House of Representatives. Under Osmena's proposal, impeachment proponents only need at least 44 signatures to send the impeachment complaint to the Senate. In last year's first impeachment attempt against President Arroyo, only 51 lawmakers voted to impeach the President for allegedly violating the Constitution. Sen. Richard Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on constitutional amendments and revision of codes and laws, said Osmena's proposal is “a valid amendment" that could be debated on when actual amendments to the 1987 Constitution are introduced. “That will be a valid amendment….This is very specific and can be the subject of little debate," Gordon said. Osmena said the president should also not be protected by the one-year ban on initiating impeachment charges. The constitution prohibits two or more impeachment proceedings against a sitting president within a year. Osmena also proposed to restore the 1973 Constitution provision that makes the president criminally liable for “offenses punishable by less than six years." The lawmaker said the president, just like congressmen and senators, should not be immune from criminal prosecution if he or she commits an offense punishable by more than six years. He also proposed to have a "bullet amendment" declaring that "no person may serve more than six years in the Office of the presidency." Osmena noted that while the Constitution provides for only one term for the president President will practically serve for nine years. The President took over from ousted President Joseph Estrada in 2001 and went to finish Estrada's unserved term until 2004. After declaring that she will not run for the same position, President Arroyo ran in 2004 and won a fresh six-year term amid charges of cheating during the elections. Osmena said his proposed amendments are easier to get the approval from the people via a plebiscite. "Given that 62 percent of our people do not want [Mrs. Arroyo] to be President, it would be easier for these amendments to be ratified in a plebiscite," he said. – GMANews.TV