NO TAKERS FOR LOZANO IMPEACH RAPS VS GMA
MANILA, SEPTEMBER 27, 2007 (STAR) By Jess Diaz - Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said yesterday he has ordered the return of the impeachment complaint filed by Marcos loyalist lawyer Oliver Lozano against President Arroyo and officials of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).“We have to return it because it is not accompanied by a certificate of endorsement signed by at least one House member as required by our rules on impeachment,” he told reporters.
He said he issued the order to House secretary general Norberto Nazareno.
De Venecia recalled that this was the second time that an impeachment complaint filed by Lozano was returned due to lack of an endorser.
“We cannot make the House to be the repository of impeachment complaints that are not accompanied by an endorsement. The House is not an archive,” he said.
He pointed out that he and his colleagues can not act on any impeachment case that is not endorsed by at least one member.
Lozano wants the President impeached for the innumerable unexplained killings that have happened during her watch.
He is accusing Comelec Chairman Benjamin Abalos and other members of the Comelec of committing impeachable offenses in connection with the botched election computerization program and Abalos’ alleged involvement in the controversial $329-million ZTE Corp. contract for the government’s national broadband network.
Lozano has sent a copy of his complaint to Ilocos Norte Rep. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., whom he recognizes as one of his leaders in the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL), to which Lozano belongs.
However, Marcos has not endorsed the complaint.
In last May’s elections, Lozano ran for senator under the KBL but lost. Among the members of his ticket was Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano’s namesake, Joselito Pepito Cayetano of Davao City.
Earlier, House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora said none of the members of the opposition would endorse the Lozano complaint.
He said he and his colleagues suspect that the petition is meant to “immunize” the President from legitimate and solid impeachment cases that may be filed against her in connection with the NBN scandal.
“The endorser will not come from us. Maybe, it will come from the ranks of Mrs. Arroyo’s allies,” he said.
He added that once a complaint is endorsed and referred to the committee on justice, the impeachment process is deemed initiated and all other impeachment cases are barred.
Once that happens, the President is immune from impeachment for one year, he stressed.
In 2005, Lozano beat opposition congressmen led by then minority leader and now Sen. Francis Escudero and Senator Cayetano in a race for filing an impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo.
Escudero and his colleagues refused to endorse Lozano’s filing. It was a pro-administration congressman, Rodante Marcoleta, of the party-list group Alagad, who eventually endorsed it. Marcoleta is no longer a House member.
The House voted to dismiss the Lozano complaint for lack of merit.
Last year, Escudero and his colleagues and other critics of Mrs. Arroyo, including former social welfare secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, preempted the Marcos loyalist lawyer by filing multiple complaints.
Like in 2005, the impeachment cases against Mrs. Arroyo in 2006 were thrown out for lack of merit.
Zamora said even if they eventually are able to build a strong case against the President, they would not go into impeaching her if they do not have the numbers.
He said they would need at least 80 votes to send a complaint directly to the Senate for trial.
“Since the minority has only 24 members, obviously we need the support of nearly 60 from the majority,” he added.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2007
by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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