Friday, August 25, 2006
House buries impeachment
CEBU CITY -- Through their numerical superiority, allies of Malacañang in the House of Representatives trashed the second bid to impeach President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
By a vote of 173 to 32 with one abstention after an 18-hour marathon debate, the House plenary adopted Committee Report 1886 of the House committee on justice chaired by Maguindanao Representative Simeon Datuma-nong, which rejected the impeachment case filed by the Black and White Movement for being insufficient in substance.
The House committee on justice last week ruled that the impeachment complaint against Arroyo was insufficient in substance as it failed to meet the requirement set by the rules.
The justice committee voted 56-24 in favor of the motion dismissing it for lack of substance.
The complaint accused Arroyo of 22 violations, including rigging the 2004 presidential elections, corruption, human rights abuses, and violating the Constitution, all of which were denied by Malacañang and its allies.
The Arroyo administration and House Speaker Jose de Venecia promptly welcomed the move and offered its hand of unity and reconciliation with the opposition and other anti-administration groups "for the welfare of the country and the people."
The first bid to remove the President from office last year was also decisively crushed by the House by a vote of 158 to 51 six abstentions. The second impeachment complaint gathered fewer votes of support than what it gained last year.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia presided at the start of the session Wednesday afternoon and stayed throughout the night until the session was adjourned at 9:55 a.m. Thursday. Voting began at 4 p.m.
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