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MANILA - Members of the House of Representatives threw out the latest impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
A total of 183 lawmakers voted to uphold the House committee report, which dismissed the fourth complaint against Arroyo as “insufficient in substance.” Twenty-one voted “no” and three House members abstained.
Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora, in casting his negative vote, lamented the committee decision, saying, "Is this the way to treat a serious impeachment complaint."
Eleven members of the opposition bloc left the session hall after registering their "no" vote.
Zamora and South Cotabato Representative Darlene Antonino-Custodio said they saw no reason to still explain their vote.
"It is the administration allies who should explain to the people their vote, why they are killing the impeachment,” Custodio said. “The people know our stand."
But the endorsers of the complaint, mostly party list lawmakers, remained in the hall to defend their position against junking the complaint.
Leaving the hall with Zamora and Custodio are Representatives Rufus Rodriguez, Roilo Golez, Joel Villanueva, Cinchona Gonzales, Justin Marc Chipeco, Mujiv Hataman, Mar-len Abigail Binay, Maria Laarni Cayetano, and Benjamin Asilo.
Earlier, Bayan Muna partylist Representative Satur Ocampo, interpellating Quezon City Representative Matias Defensor, protested the impeachment complaint’s dismissal.
Ocampo said the charge of human rights violations could not be labeled an old issue because there have been new cases added in this year’s complaint that were not in previous cases.
Makati Representative Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr. said the Memorandum on Agreement on Ancestral Domain between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front should have been included in the charges against the President.
Loscin said the MOA-AD could have easily been the "one viable" charge that could send the President into trial.
A group of bloggers, led by Philippine Daily Inquirer columnist and television host Manuel Quezon III, had filed the motion for intervention to include the MOA-AD in the dismissed complaint by Jose de Venecia III.
In his opening statement, Defensor asked his colleagues to accept the decision of the House "without rancor or misgivings" if they fail to get the numbers in the chamber.
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