By a vote of 31-9, the House ethics committee, headed by Bohol Rep. Roberto Cajes, gave due course to the complaints filed by First Gentleman Jose Miguel, his sons Juan Miguel and Diosdado and their uncle, Negros Occidental Rep. Ignacio Arroyo.
"Now he (Cayetano) can open his seven boxes (of evidence)," Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto Paras, of the majority coalition, said. He had blocked moves by the House minority to defer action on the cases because of a separate but related libel case pending in a Quezon City court.
Rep. Luis Villafuerte of Camarines Sur told newsmen the decision of the Cajes panel upholding the "sufficiency of the form and substance" of the Arroyo complaint should give Cayetano the opportunity to defend himself.
Baguio City Rep. Mauricio Domogan, a member of the administration party, agreed. "He (Cayetano) will be required to respond to the allegations. He can now avail himself of the opportunity to air his side."
The House minority bloc, led by Sorsogon Rep. Francis Escudero, attempted to prevent the ethics panel from giving due course to the complaints, citing a libel case filed by the First Gentleman against Cayetano with the Quezon City prosecutor’s office.
Villafuerte explained that while the facts of the libel and the ethics cases were almost the same, the former had the nature of a criminal case while the latter was only seeking "disciplinary action."
"In the case of Diosdado, he did not file any libel case against Cayetano. That’s definite and incontrovertible. In the other (Arroyo) cases, libel was a result of scurrilous statements while this (ethics suit) is regarding unparliamentary remarks and misconduct," he stressed.
"These are entirely two different matters," Villafuerte said, debunking Escudero’s claims that the libel case was copied "almost verbatim" and incorporated in the Arroyos’ complaint before the House ethics panel.
"Why can we not take judicial notice of the fact that there’s a pending case before the office of the Quezon City fiscal? These are same facts, same statements. The complaints only differed in the number of paragraphs," Escudero told the committee.
Villafuerte cited a Supreme Court decision, which held that the late Sen. Sergio Osmena Jr. was immune from libel but not from admonition from his colleagues.
But Cayetano, who will run for senator in the May 2007 polls, remained unapologetic and defiant. "Now people will be observing how congressmen shielded GMA from accusations of cheating in May 2004."
Cayetano added that it was his job as opposition spokesman to expose irregularities in the Arroyo government. But with what happened, he said it was now "obvious" that members of the First Family were harassing the political opposition.
The Arroyos accused Cayetano, who is on his third and last term as congressman, of "fabricating evidence, making false testimonies and for malicious and defamatory accusations against our family."
"His (Cayetano’s) deliberate disregard for the honor and reputation of fellow legislators is nothing less than a tragedy to our institution which we must all address and ensure will never happen again," the Arroyo congressmen said in a joint statement.
The Arroyos branded the opposition lawmaker as "arrogant" for refusing to admit that his multimillion-dollar German bank account exposé was just a bum steer.
"It is pathetic that Cayetano insists on peddling his lies despite indisputable proof that he manufactured a fake account number for the sole purpose of smearing our reputation and that of the First Family," they said.
"He (Cayetano) is not worthy to be a member of this House. He is not a gentleman by any measure. He must not be allowed to bring the House down with him," the Arroyos said in their complaint.
The opposition congressman had thumbed down suggestions for him to apologize. A defiant Cayetano even vowed to resign and allow himself to be jailed if his accusations turned out to be a hoax.
Cayetano reiterated his call for the Arroyos to sign a waiver, a challenge the family dubbed as preposterous. "How can you waive something that is not yours?" Arroyo asked Congress reporters.
Romulo Macalintal, the President’s election lawyer, said that by seeking a waiver, Cayetano was making a "clear admission" that he had no evidence against the First Family and was only "fishing for information."