MANILA, Philippines - After only two hearings, the House committee on justice junked yesterday all three impeachment complaints against President Aquino, saying they were “not sufficient in substance.”

The committee, dominated by Aquino’s allies, junked each impeachment complaint by a vote of 54-4 in separate voting toward the end of the four-hour proceedings presided over by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas.

Malacañang said it was grateful to the lawmakers for trashing the complaints.

The four votes came from members of the Makabayan bloc – Reps. Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarate of the Bayan Muna party-list group, and Luzviminda Ilagan and Emmerenciana De Jesus of the Gabriela party-list group.

The four lawmakers were also the endorsers of the impeachment complaints. They wanted Aquino impeached for his alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption.

The committee, during last week’s hearing, voted to accept the three complaints as “sufficient in form.” The move was widely believed to be just a ploy to muffle possible uproar over an eventual dismissal of the complaints.

The first two impeachment complaints accused Aquino of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption for ordering the implementation of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP), parts of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court last July.

The DAP, the complainants said, was used to bribe senators and congressmen into convicting former chief justice Renato Corona.

The third complaint – filed by the Gabriela party-list group – also accused Aquino of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for forging the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) with the US government.

“This is a terrible day for Congress’ power over the purse, a terrible day for the people,” Colmenares addressed the panel after the voting.

“We cannot let the country be run by a budget dictator…who has turned the entire national budget into his presidential pork barrel,” he said.

He accused Tupas and other pro-administration members of the panel of double standard in dealing with impeachment complaints, citing the panel’s haste at voting to impeach former ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez and Corona.

He said while the committee found justification for the impeachment complaint against Gutierrez because of her low conviction rate, “more so the President should answer after he seized P144 billion appropriated by Congress and spent them for purposes other than those allowed by Congress.”

Colmenares lashed out at pro-administration congressmen reportedly for acting like lawyers of Aquino. “Isn’t that perversity?”

Kabataan party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, the endorser of the second impeachment complaint, said Aquino committed at least 116 counts of technical malversation in realigning funds for DAP.

“This case is not a joke. With the many times the President used public funds for projects not included in the annual budget, he could be facing almost 60 years in jail,” Ridon said in Filipino.

“If this case is enough to see him jailed almost for life, it should be more than enough to remove him from his post,” he said.

Anakpawis party-list Rep. Fernando Hicap, who is also an endorser of the complaint, said the killing of the two impeachment complaints meant that no one in the Aquino administration can be held accountable for the DAP.

“The result of the voting of the committee on justice was expected. It was a stamp pad vote bearing the seal of the Office of the President,” Hicap said.

Premature

Administration lawmakers countered, however, that the complaints were premature and should be dismissed outright, citing a pending appeal by Malacañang of the SC’s ruling against DAP.

They also said there was no proof that Aquino had knowingly violated the Constitution.

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez described the impeachment complaints as “having no legal effect whatsoever, a mere scrap of paper.”

Deputy Speaker and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao said the complaint failed to specify the bribery angle, or how funds were pocketed.

Marikina City Rep. Romero Quimbo belittled the complainants’ assertions that impeaching Aquino had wide public support, pointing out that even colleagues of the Makabayan lawmakers in the minority bloc did not support them.

“The complaint is empty,” Quimbo said in Filipino.

Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe said any issue against the EDCA should be raised before the SC.

Shortly after the panel announced the result of the voting, protesters inside the hearing room stood up, raised anti-government placards and shouted in Filipino “Down with the yellow dictatorship! Oust Noynoy!”

Colmenares and Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone also had a heated exchange over the issue of DAP. Their exchange was later stricken off the record.

More protests

Organized labor also denounced the junking of the impeachment complaints against the President.

“This act (junking of complaints) proves that the justice committee is a committee of patronage, corruption and injustice where numbers, not reason, prevails,” Kilusang Mayo Uno chair Elmer Labog said in a statement.

Although the committee’s action was expected, Labog said workers still felt indignant.

“We are most disgusted to see the closest allies of former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo leading the junking of the complaints. Erstwhile critics of Arroyo also showed their true colors in showing support for the patronage and corruption of Aquino,” Labog noted.

“The junking of the impeachment complaints leaves us with no other option but to intensify protests. We vow to exert all efforts to increase mobilizations against Aquino,” he added.

The Alliance of Health Workers also denounced the dismissal of the impeachment complaints.

In a statement, AHW president Jossel Ebesate likened the Liberal Party-led coalition of Aquino to the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan political party during the time of dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

“The coalition and P-Noy government is only all talk about tuwid na daan but is actually the worst government since Marcos in terms of propping up patronage politics,” he noted.

“We would therefore expect that in coming days, this government would try to throw everything, including the kitchen sink, even the toilet bowl, towards the direction of the progressive movement, that in spite of the efforts of previous governments to discredit it,” he said.

At Malacañang, Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the junking of the complaints showed that justice prevailed.

He said the executive department has always expected the House of Representatives – a co-equal branch of government – to handle the impeachment cases with fairness and wisdom.

He also shot down insinuations Malacañang had a hand in the dismissal of the complaints.

“We take note that the process took place with transparency, not just according to the rules, but to give the proponents every opportunity to make their case,”

deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in an email to reporters. – Delon Porcalla, Sheila Crisostomo, Mayen Jaymalin