As the impeachment complaint against President Arroyo was being killed in the House of Representatives by her allies to prevent the truth from surfacing, the same was attempted by Malacañang at the Senate, with senators apparently being intimated and being “neutralized” by ordering the arrest of Sen. Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada and at the Senate itself.
Pasay police who admitted to Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. that it was the Malacañang occupants who had ordered them to arrest Estrada, yesterday attempted to haul out of the Senate the young senator, and arrest him on the basis of a warrant issued by a Pasay judge handling the libel case against him filed by First Gentleman Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo.
Read the whole thing. Estrada said he's willing to sumbit himself to the courts.
Estrada said he will not hide.
"After the roll call, I will voluntarily submit myself to the Pasay regional trial court, and face the charges leveled against me," he said.
Estrada was set to post a P10,000 bail before the court closed, but he was convinced by some of his colleagues not to go the court yesterday.
The hearings of Mike Arroyo’s libel suits against Malaya columnist Lito Banayo are bordering on the absurd. We can’t help but laugh.
But we laugh nervously because the absurdity stems from Mike Arroyo’s power tripping. And we know how dangerous power trippers are specially if they have at their disposal the armed forces and the police.
After reading the article, yeah... trial of the absurd nga talaga.
Villafuerte, a lawyer, said before evidence could be presented as the minority wanted, the complaint should "first surmount and overcome the test of sufficiency."
He argued that the panel was bereft of jurisdiction over the complaint because it included charges that were allegedly committed prior to the President Arroyo’s assumption of office on June 30, 2004.
He cited the Supreme Court’s interpretation of Article 11, Sec. 3 of the Constitution in the Pascual case, that offenses committed or acts done during the previous term of an impeachable official cannot be given due course.
"The committee on justice therefore can’t exercise jurisdiction over the prior acts," Villafuerte said.
The Panel has no jurisdiction to acts prior to June 30, 2004. Just like the GLORIAGATE election fraud scandal.
Francis Escudero comments:
Minority leader Francis Escudero said Villafuerte should not blame the drafters because it was the President who committed loads of violations. "Ano po ba gusto ninyo, idikit namin lahat ng 30,000 election returns sa complaint?" he said.
Escudero said Villafuerte, in effect, was telling them to just play deaf and blind to the accusations against Arroyo because of technicalities.
"Napakasakit na sinasabi ninyo na walang ebidensya gayong pinipigilan niyo kaming ipakita… Hindi ho ito negosyo na papasukan mo kung siguradong kikita," he said.
"How can we make her answer to accusations she cheated in the elections when you’re saying it is not qualified as a complaint? How can there be forgiveness?" he said. "Sa dami-dami ho ng nagsalita, ni isa walang nagsabi na di totoo ang mga paratang. Does it mean we’ll just condone it (cheating) because she won (in the elections)? If that’s your argument, how can we apply the theory of cheating?"
Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano (NP, Taguig-Pateros) said the country would not be able to move on if Congress continued to close ranks to bail the President out. "Let’s not sacrifice the whole nation for one woman na takot sumagot," he said.
Malaya Editorial: "Let’s review the accusations against Gloria. She was accused of buying the 2004 elections and, just for insurance, rigging the results; of graft and corruption; and of grossly violating human rights to the extent of killing the more vocal of her critics.
On the first indictment alone, the sponsors of the impeachment compliant were ready with a mass of evidence. The use of the P728 million fertilizer fund to buy the support of congressmen and local officials in 2004 was fully documented in the report of the Senate committee of agriculture which investigated the scam. That’s on top of the rigging exposed in the "Hello Garci" conversations and corroborated by Marine Brig. Gen. (ret.) Francisco Gudani.
But no, the justice committee would not want any of the evidence presented. The facts narrated in the complaints did not constitute an impeachable offense. The committee members so determined by a vote."
THE Supreme Court yesterday denied a joint petition of Brig. Gen. (ret.) Francisco Gudani and Lt. Col. Alexander Balutan to stop the Armed Forces from conducting pre-trial and court martial proceedings against them.
Gudani was sacked as assistant superintendent of the Philippine Military Academy and Balutan as PMA assistant commandant on Sept. 28 last year right after they testified before the Senate about massive cheating in the May 2004 elections in some Mindanao provinces.
During the election period, Gudani was commander of the 1st Marine Brigade based in Marawi City and concurrent chief of the AFP’s Task Force Ranao which was tasked to maintain peace and order in the May 2004 polls in the provinces of Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur.
Gudani, who reached the mandatory retirement age of 56 in October last year, was one of four generals named in the "Hello Garci" wiretapped recordings on alleged electoral fraud committed by the Arroyo camp. In the recordings, Gudani was perceived as having supported Fernando Poe Jr.
Balutan was the head of a Marine battalion under Gudani’s brigade.
The Armed Forces said Gudani and Balutan were relieved for undermining the chain of command. They were subjected to investigations for violation Article of War 65, or willfully violating a superior officer. They had been directed by then AFP chief Gen. (ret.) Generoso Senga not to appear before the Senate.
The two were considered the first victims of Executive Order 464 issued by President Arroyo on the eve of their testimony. EO 464 prohibits key officials from appearing before congressional inquiries without permission from Arroyo.
But isn't EO 464 unconstitutional? Bakit, coup plotter rin ba sila gudani at balutan?
GMA: "Whimsical" probes off limits to AFP officers
MALACAÑANG yesterday said the Supreme Court decision junking a petition to stop the Armed Forces from investigating Brig. Gen. (ret.) Francisco Gudani and Lt. Col. Alexander Balutan for possible court martial affirms President Arroyo’s authority as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces.
Defense Secretary Avelino Cruz Jr. said the SC decision not to stop the Armed Forces from conducting pre-trial and court martial proceedings against Gudani and Balutan affirms the AFP principle that soldiers should follow the chain of command.
Court martial for Gen. Gudani and Lt. Col. Balutan for telling the truth about the Election fraud in Mindanao?
I love refunds and all, pero may tanong lang ako. How can rate increase be "unauthorized" when the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) mismo approved of the increase?
Kasalanan lang ba ito ng MERALCO? O "kasalanan" rin ito ng gobierno?
baka naman ang timing ng refund ay magaganap rin during the 2007 election, katulad ng last refund ng MERALCO na nagkasabay sa May 2004 elections, para makatulong sa mga kaalyado ni Arroyo.
Bill quick notes that "this is one of the most important articles to appear to date in the entire span of the war on terror."
More from Gerson:
But it is something else to claim that democracy itself is a threat in the Middle East because dictatorships are more stable. This duplicates the argument of the dictators themselves: it is us or the Islamists ... the junta or the jihad. But the choice is false. Political oppression in nations like Egypt has increased the standing and appeal of radicals and forced all opposition into the mosque, while state media continues to provide a steady supply of anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism. The real choice to be made in the Middle East is between radicals and democrats; both groups have been emboldened by the events of the last five years. We may have limited time to take the side of democratic forces—not merely as an act of altruism, but as an act of self-defense.
Five Augusts from 9/11, in a summer of new fears, in a war on terror that has lasted longer than World War II, public weariness is understandable. And that exhaustion is increasingly reflected in our politics. In a conservative backlash against the president's democratic idealism. In a liberal backlash that has moved from the fringes to the mainstream of the Democratic Party. Ned Lamont, in his primary victory over Sen. Joe Lieberman, summed up the case this way: "We are going to get our troops out of Iraq ... we're going to start investing in our own country again." Lamontism—the elevation of flinching to a foreign policy—is McGovernism, and a long way from "bear any burden, pay any price."
But these political conflicts seem pale and puny in comparison with the broader civilizational conflict that engages us—a reality we cannot claim we do not see. Our enemies set out their goal with neon clarity. To kill, as intended in the London plot, as many as their technology allows. To seek technologies that will make radical Islam a global power, allowing new killing on an unimagined scale. The response of many Americans to all of this is ... up in the air.
SENATOR Joker Arroyo wants Congress to scrutinize the P500 million standby fund being requested by Malacañang for the repatriation of Filipino workers in Lebanon considering that an international group is “spending more” in evacuating Filipinos than the Philippine government.
He said the Senate and the House of Representatives should not be stampeded into enacting the proposed calamity fund for the evacuation of OFWs trapped in Lebanon.
Arroyo noted that the repatriation of 62 percent of the 5,447 Filipinos in Lebanon who were transported by bus from Beirut to Damascus and then airlifted to Manila was “handled and paid for by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).”
A total of 3,687 OFWs were cared for by the IOM and the rest • 1,760 • were handled by the Philippine embassy in Beirut. He said that this figure was confirmed by the Philippine embassy in Beirut.
“The long and the short of this tragic episode is that IOM, without any fanfare, has spent a lot more and handled more evacuees than our government. IOM has chartered eight flights Damascus-Manila with 250 to 450 OFWs each plane • independent of airlifting them in two commercial flights,” Arroyo stressed.
“What will the government do with the P500 million? That is the question. Nobody asked for details on that. We were just told we should rush this because we badly need it. It is time to ask questions how this will be spent,” he added.
More from Ninez Cacho Olivarez:
Even before the guns went still in Lebanon and Israel, Gloria and her aides kept on claiming that the majority of Filipino workers stranded in these countries were unwilling to come home, which was why she ordered a “forced evacuation” with claims of adding more teams to go on a house-to-house campaign to get the Pinoys out of the war zone.
This was of course preceded by Gloria’s announced plans of (a) chartering an airline (never happened); (b) announcing that Cebu Pacific was getting its new aircraft from abroad which would then pick up the OFWs (false, since the airline said nothing in such arrangements was definite); (c ) the Aboitiz ships would be sent to Lebanon to pick up the evacuees for free (never happened either); and (d) the two Coast Guard ships would be sailing to Lebanon to ferry the Pinoy workers to Cyprus, which would cost something like $2 million for the long 40- day trip (didn’t happen at all).
Some 4,000 Pinoy workers were repatriated by air, but not at the expense of the government, even if Gloria was claiming credit for it.
Those who came in big batches of 350-400, were those whom the International Organization for Migration (IOM) shipped home, at IOM’s expense. Those who arrived in trickles were probably at the expense of the Gloria government. One wonders if there was indeed hundreds of millions remitted to the embassies in Lebanon and Israel, not to mention the hundred million or so the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) claimed to already have remitted.
and this:
For another, she is after getting more money from Congress — some half a billion at least for this “rescue” which she never really intends to do, but which money she will clearly be spending for other things — and certainly not for repatriation purposes. Already, several hundred millions have been claimed allocated for the earlier repatriation efforts, but were obviously not spent or even released by the Arroyo government, given the fact that the IOM spent for the bulk of the repatriation expenses. Airfares would be the most expensive component in repatriating evacuees.
The House committee on justice has junked the opposition’s requests to allow the panel to vote separately on each of the allegations filed against President Arroyo and allow a complainant to participate in the debates.
Voting 47-18, the committee and its members yesterday voted down Parañaque City Rep. Roilo Golez’s motion that they vote on each allegation stated in the impeachment complaint instead of voting on it as a whole.
House Deputy Minority Floor Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, in explaining the motion of Golez, asked that the appeal be considered by the committee, claiming that this way is the most logical, practical and fair.
“How can we say the accusations against President Arroyo have basis if we will not discuss them one by one. If we will not go to these causes of action one by one, it will just create an injustice to our people,” he stressed.
More: Impeach bloc barred from presenting evidence.
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