Lawmaker pardoned for nepotism, to vote vs GMA impeachment

A congressman who was among the opposition lawmakers seeking President Arroyo’s impeachment revealed yesterday that he will now vote for the dismissal of the complaint, days after he received a presidential pardon for an earlier conviction by the Sandiganbayan on nepotism charges.

Samar Rep. Reynaldo Uy explained that he changed his mind because the impeachment complaint was merely political harassment.

Uy maintains that he did not change his mind because of the presidential pardon. "No, no, it is not an exchange deal," he said.

"Of course, my vote for dismissal of the second impeachment against the President is not only because of the rehashed and insufficiency of the impeachment complaint, but also because I sympathized with the President. Such form of harassment also happened to me when I was still the chief executive of Calbayog City, the same and rehashed criminal complaints filed against me by my political opponents," he said, referring to the charges of nepotism filed against him in 1992.

Uy, while then serving his first term as mayor of Calbayog, appointed two of his relatives to positions in the city government, for which he was later investigated by the Office of the Ombudsman and convicted by the Sandiganbayan in 2004.

Uy appointed his niece, Antonia, and a nephew, Frederick, to the city health and agriculture offices, respectively. But their appointments were questioned by one Sofia Patrimonio Garte with the Ombudsman.

The Sandiganbayan, in affirming the decision of the Ombudsman, found Uy guilty and asked him to pay a fine of P1,000 for each count of nepotism.

Uy claimed that the complaint was instigated by his political rivals.

"This is where I drew parallelism with the impeachment complaint filed against the President. On the micro level, the cases filed against me were instigated by my political rivals while she continues to experienced the same harassment," he said.

"The country has the right to move on for the sake of Filipinos. We need progress. That is why we cannot move on economically, because of too much politicking."

He said he immediately sought a presidential pardon a week after the Sandiganbayan’s 2004 ruling on his nepotism case, which was granted by Mrs. Arroyo, through Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, last Aug. 7.

"By the virtue of the authority conferred upon me by the Constitution, petitioner Reynaldo Uy is hereby granted an absolute and unconditional pardon and restored to full civil and political rights," Mrs. Arroyo stated in the pardon, a copy of which was obtained by The STAR.

The House of Representatives’ justice committee is set to vote any time this week if there is legal ground for impeachment in the complaint filed against Mrs. Arroyo by the Black & White Movement.

Yesterday, the committee discussed whether the complaint is sufficient in form and substance.

Once the House committee holds a vote, its decision will then go to the entire House, which will decide whether or not to approve it.