Bishop Iñiguez files 3rd impeach rap vs Arroyo

Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez on Wednesday led the filing of another impeachment complaint against President Arroyo. Akbayan party-list Representatives Loretta Ann Rosales, Mario Aguja and Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel endorsed the complaint, the third to be filed this week, before the office of House Secretary General Roberto Nazareno. Iñiguez warned that there was a "groundswell" of support among the masses for the new impeachment complaints against the President. He denied that his filing of an impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo is a political move. He said that even though the impeachment is a political process, one cannot dismiss as politicking the search for truth. The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Iñiguez added, has nothing to do with the filing of the complaint. Iñiguez said he expects the President to be enlightened after her meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. For their part, the Akbayan lawmakers said allies of Mrs. Arroyo should not muffle the impeachment process as it is a constitutional process that allows her to answer the accusations against her. Mrs. Arroyo will be facing at least two more impeachment complaints on top of the three other raps already filed against her this week. Civil society representatives will be filing additional complaints on June 29 and July 24 "to avoid any technicality" that would nullify their impeachment bid. Aside from filing the impeachment raps, new complainants will be introduced everyday from June 26, the day the one-year ban on the filing of cases supposedly lapses, until the reopening of Congress on July 24. On Tuesday, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr and 17 others filed a complaint against the President. Guingona told GMANews.TV he filed the impeachment complaint as a representative of the Citizens Congress for Truth and Accountability (CCTA), which held a series of "hearings" on alleged anomalies and electoral crimes that implicated Mrs. Arroyo. The CCTA had earlier found the President "guilty" of "lying, cheating and stealing" in the May 2004 elections, among other accusations. Guingona's son, Rep. Teofisto III (2D, Bukidnon), was the sole congressman who endorsed the Tuesday impeachment complaint. On Monday, some 200 private individuals filed a separate impeachment rap, the first to be received by the House secretary general since the one-year ban on the filing of complaint lapsed.-GMANews.TV