Junking of Impeachment Complaint Leaves Charges Against Arroyo Unresolved; Another Round of Bribery Charges Reeks

While Malacañang claimed feat over its maneuver to shut the impeachment today, Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Liza Maza strongly believes that “the junking of the impeachment complaint by the House Committee on Justice has brazenly robbed the Filipino people of the right to every democratic process left to make President Arroyo accountable to all the serious charges against her.”

Especially amid reports published today in the Daily Tribune on the alleged P.5M cash gifts for GMA allies in Congress, Maza questioned the House Justice Committee’s competence and independence to decide over the serious and legitimate impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo, as she filed a motion to disqualify members involved in the Malacañang bribery last year.

“The integrity of this Committee is tarnished by the presence of members who admitted direct involvement in the October 2007 pay-off. They must be disqualified if they would not inhibit themselves. Let it not be said that some members of the Committee decided on the insufficiency of substance of the impeachment complaint with dirty hands,” Maza said.

“All the issues of bribery and corruption laid before this committee have never been refuted by Arroyo’s allies. They have never contested the fact that the pay-off took place in Malacañang in the presence of no less than President Arroyo. These charges remain unresolved and they could not simply discredit this fact,” the Gabriela solon further said.

“The fight does not end in the impeachment process. The real battle lies in the Filipino people’s persistence and struggle to combat the impunity of the Arroyo administration, especially with the shameless efforts to extend the President’s term beyond 2010,” Maza concluded.###