House panel junks three impeachment raps vs. Aquino

By XIANNE ARCANGEL, GMA News

Published September 2, 2014 1:25pm

(UPDATED 2:18 p.m.) The House of Representatives Committee on Justice on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to junk the three impeachment complaints against President Benigno Aquino III, declaring them "insufficient in substance."

Voting 54-4 in all three impeachment complaints, the panel moved to dismiss the impeachment raps against Aquino.

Bayan Muna party-list Representatives Carlos Isagani Zarate and Neri Colmenares, and Gabriela party-list Representatives Luz Ilagan and Emmi de Jesus, who were among the lawmakers who endorsed the impeachment complaints separately, consistently voted to declare them as being sufficient in substance.

Two of the three complaints filed against the President alleged that Aquino committed a culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in connection with his implementation of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).

The Supreme Court has declared the DAP partially unconstitutional.

The third complaint also alleged culpable violation of the Constitution with regard to the Aquino administration's signing of the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the US.

The EDCA is now the subject of a suit before the Supreme Court.

'Terrible day'

The voting on the third impeachment complaint was marred by the lightning rally by several members of militant groups who shouted, “Noynoy patalsikin! Pork barrel king!”

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, who endorsed one of the impeachment complaints against Aquino, expressed dismay at the committee’s decision to railroad the “death” of the impeachment complaint.

“Mas maganda pa noong panahon ni (former President Gloria) Arroyo. At least umaabot ng tatlo o apat na hearing bago i-dismiss ang impeachment complaint. Dito dalawang hearing lang. Talagang takot na takot si Pangulong Aquino sa accountability…This is a terrible day for the Filipino people,” he told reporters after the hearing.

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas, the chairman of the House Committee on Justice, said the panel would next prepare a report on the outcome of the hearing. The report will then presented to the plenary after its completion.

“Pagbobotohan ng buong Kamara kung isu-sustain ang desisyon ng Committee on Justice or io-overrule [kami],” he said.

Tupas said there was a slim chance that the plenary would reverse the panel’s decision because the hearing proved the impeachment complaints lacked substance.

“[The decision] can be reversed pero ang tingin ko kasi ang pulso dito (sa komite) is also a reflection of the sentiment of the entire House. Pinagbigyan natin na magkaroon ng apat na oras na debate on the complaints pero… talagang walang laman ang complaints,” he said.

116 counts of malversation

In his presentation for the first complaint, Colmenares accused Aquino of turning the General Appropriations Acts from 2011 to 2013 into his “personal pork barrel” when he withdrew a total of P144 billion in unobligated allotments and pooled them as savings under DAP.

Aquino’s creation of DAP and his supposed use of the funds under the program to allegedly bribe senators for the conviction of then-Chief Justice Renato Corona in his own impeachment trial constitute sufficient ground for the justice panel members to find the impeachment suit against Aquino as being sufficient in substance, the lawmaker said.

“If we don’t see Aquino as having committed an impeachable offense [over DAP], I don’t see anybody who can be impeached in this country. There’s no way the committee can dismiss this complaint,” he said.

Based on the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings of the 16th Congress, an impeachment complaint is deemed as sufficient in substance “if there is a recital of facts constituting the offense charged and determinative of the jurisdiction of the committee.”

Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Tinio, who endorsed the second impeachment complaint, said Aquino should be made accountable for reportedly realigning government funds to DAP. He claimed Aquino was already liable for committing 116 counts of technical malversation since he used DAP funds for 116 programs, activities and projects.

“Inasmuch as we can’t have a country run by a thief, we likewise can’t have a country run by a fiscal dictator,” he said.

Doctrine of operative fact

Throughout the four-hour committee hearing, Aquino’s allies took turns in defending the President, saying he committed no wrong when he implemented the DAP.

Majority Leader Rep. Neptali Gonzales II said the doctrine of operative fact, which the Supreme Court cited in its DAP ruling, should also be considered by lawmakers in deciding on the merits of the impeachment complaints against the President.

“If the SC considered the doctrine of operative fact because of fair play, then we should also apply the same principle in this case," Gonzales said.

The SC said that under the "doctrine of operative fact," the existence of the law or executive act is recognized prior to the determination of its unconstitutionality as an operative fact that produced consequences that cannot always be erased, ignored or disregarded.

Marikina City Rep. Romero Quimbo said that the absence of support for the impeachment complaint from the members of the opposition in both chambers of Congress only meant that the suit was “empty and [lacked] substance.”

For his part, Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao said proceeding with the impeachment would “overturn the popular decision” made by more than 15 million Filipino voters in 2010 to elect Aquino.

“The decision to impeach the President should only follow the most serious of circumstances, in conformity to the standards we have set… If we take away the rhetoric of the two impeachment complaints, they fall short of even what a fiscal would require for a case,” he said. —NB/KG, GMA News

Tags: benignoaquinoiii, impeachment, houseofrepresentatives, pnoyimpeachment