While agreeing to the allegations against President GMA contained in supplementary complaint filed by UNO spokesperson Adel Tamano yesterday, AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros announced that she would not re-endorse the Abalos impeachment complaint in order to revise the original one.

“We agree that President GMA is responsible over the bribery scandal in the ZTE deal and the pay-off controversy in Malacañang involving legislators. She should be held accountable for that and we challenge her to speak out to answer these allegations,” Rep. Hontiveros said.
“However, flaws in the impeachment process is stacked up against those who wish to use the impeachment process as the venue to go after President GMA. Impeachment should lead to accountability. But as we have seen in previous impeachment attempts against GMA, the process has been distorted to strengthen the President. We don’t want a biased process that would only deepen her impunity,” Rep. Hontiveros said.

She added that AKBAYAN supports the move of the Minority to question the rules of impeachment before the Supreme Court. “The rules have to be revisited to restore the integrity of the process. The one-year bar is meant to make the process credible, and not a hindrance to accountability and justice,” Rep. Hontiveros stressed, adding that AKBAYAN believes that no initiation of the process has taken place once the Justice Committee junks an impeachment complaint due to insufficiency in substance or form.

“We want a level and fair playing field. True, the process is political. But this doesn’t mean that it should not be governed by the rule of law or by reason. What we have seen in the last two impeachment attempts against GMA is a bastardization of a process that should be urgently corrected,” Rep. Hontiveros said.

“Even if Speaker De Venecia and President GMA were able to kiss and make up, the allegations of bribery should not be buried and forgotten. It is in this spirit that AKBAYAN has filed a case against former COMELEC Chair Benjamin Abalos before the Ombudsman. We hope that the Speaker of the House of Representatives would rise above his partisan interest and lead Congress in using its oversight powers to hold a corrupt President accountable,” Rep. Hontiveros said.

AKBAYAN endorses impeachment complaint

Monday, 01 October 2007

Deputy minority leader and AKBAYAN Rep. Risa Hontiveros endorsed today the impeachment complaint filed by Iloilo Vice-Governor Suplico against COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos, while members of the group held a picket outside Congress to demand for Abalos’ impeachment.

“Since he wouldn’t resign, then it is Congress’ obligation to impeach him,” Rep. Hontiveros said. “The testimonies of Joey de Venecia and ex-NEDA Secretary Romulo Neri are enough to pin him down.”

“This is his karma. We may not be able to impeach him for single-handedly destroying the integrity of the electoral system, but the NBN/ZTE controversy has fully unraveled Abalos’ corruption,” Rep. Hontiveros added.

Designated as the spokesperson of the minority on the impeachment of Abalos, Rep. Hontiveros said that opposition solons who are supporting the impeachment are talking even to pro-administration legislators, including members of the reform bloc. “There is a sense of urgency, especially since Abalos is set to retire early next year. Fortunately, the best recruiter for impeachment is Abalos himself. His vacuous denial only made the testimonies of de Venecia and Sec. Neri more credible,” Rep. Hontiveros said.

She is also confident that more pro-administration solons would join the impeachment drive. “We expect a bi-partisan support for the impeachment. Compared to the impeachment attempts against President GMA, it would not be that easy for the GMA camp to simply order pro-administration solons to quash the impeachment complaint. That there are more than 100 neophyte legislators this Congress is the wildcard in the current impeachment drive,” Rep. Hontiveros said, adding that this is not simply a question of their loyalty to the President. “There are just too many factors, from their idealism to the prevailing belief in Congress that Joey de Venecia has the support of his father.”

“Their idealism has so far kept the House leadership on their toes, and we hope that the same idealism would deliver the numbers,” she said.

“Abalos might start talking about what he knows of the ’Hello Garci’ controversy, but even that is no guarantee that he’d be able to escape from criminal charges. We’re not even sure if his talking would quash the impeachment complaint, since the administration could also use the impeachment to silence him. What is definite is that the moment he steps out of office, either through retirement or through impeachment, he will face the court for violating our laws,” Rep. Hontiveros said.