Lagman hits opposition’s boycott of impeach voting

Walking out of a legitimate hearing like the House proceedings in the invalidated  impeachment complaint filed by Roel Pulido against President Arroyo is just an “excuse” of the fragmented opposition, a senior lawmaker said yesterday.

“That is only an act of saving face of those who are unable to get things done, either for lack of compliance or lack of support. Boycott is the excuse of the weak and it is the way out of imminent defeat,” House justice committee vice chairman Edcel Lagman said.

He made the assessment in the wake of the statement of Deputy Minority Leader Roilo Golez that he and his colleagues in the opposition bloc, numbering almost 30, will boycott the plenary vote on the complaint this week. He described it as a “sham complaint.”

Another senior administration lawmaker, Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles, made almost the same remark as Lagman. “I think they were really divided to file, support etc. because they know it is futile without numbers. Congressman Ronnie Zamora already said so long before.”

As for Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Villafuerte, another House legal luminary, the minority bloc has all the right to boycott the plenary vote, but clarified this does not mean the hearings will have to be derailed.

“It is their prerogative, just being consistent to their earlier position but it won’t prevent the plenary from acting or dismissing the complaint,” the president of the Kabalikat ng Malayang Pilipino said.

Earlier, opposition Reps. Lorenzo “Erin” Tañada of Quezon and Joel Villanueva of the Citizens Battle Against Corruption said the Pulido complaint deserves to be dismissed by the House justice committee for being insufficient in substance.

Tañada, along with fellow Liberal Party members and several others, failed in their attempts to impeach Mrs. Arroyo in 2005 and 2006.

As for Villanueva, who also joined the anti-Arroyo bandwagon in the two failed impeachment attempts, it was not only a case of unsubstantiated complaint and not having enough numbers, but more importantly, it was a case of “political survival” for congressmen.

Nograles was not surprised at all when opposition lawmakers walked out of the proceedings in the justice committee of Quezon City Rep. Matias Defensor, because they knew it was bound to happen after all.

“It’s a reality game. With no numbers, it’s a futile exercise,” he said, implying it was just the only way they could dramatize their anti-Arroyo stance, knowing fully well the Pulido complaint has no basis at all.

“It was dismissed correctly. The issue of betrayal of public trust cannot be adequately defined because trust is very personal. Those who oppose the President do not trust her at all and there could be betrayal of trust that was never there,” Nograles added.

For the third straight year, the House justice committee dismissed in Nov. 14 the latest impeachment complaint against President Arroyo, giving her at least another uninterrupted year before she finishes her term in 2010.

The Defensor panel voted 43-1 – the lone dissenter being impeachment endorser Laguna Rep. Edgar San Luis – and declared the three-page complaint of Pulido “insufficient in substance” that could warrant any more hearings.

“Verily, in all respects, the Pulido complaint is destitute of substance. To reiterate, it is so bare that it is akin to a centerfold which may excite but does not excel,” so said Lagman, who is a congressman of Albay.