House votes 115-77 to junk impeachment

The House of Representatives officially killed yesterday the controversial resolution to impeach Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., yielding to the Supreme Court’s ruling a day earlier that said the impeachment was unconstitutional.

Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. said 115 congressmen voted to abandon the impeachment bid with 77 still insisting to proceed with the complaint.

"This writes finis to this sordid situation," De Venecia said after congressmen deliberated on the House’s official stand from Monday night until 4:55 a.m. yesterday.

"I wish to announce to our people that the political crisis is over," De Venecia said. "We decisively defeated the moves of those who wanted to impeach Chief Justice Davide."

De Venecia expressed the hope that the vote would restore political stability and encourage foreign investors to return following the outbreak of a crisis last month that threatened to pit the different branches of government against each other.

At the Supreme Court, Davide said yesterday it was time to move on with "our democratic institutions," which have been "empowered and strengthened" after the crisis brought about by the impeachment complaint filed against him.

"The rule of law triumphed. It was a glorious day for the court and the justices. It was a victory for democracy and the Filipino people," Davide said during ceremonies for the retirement of Senior Associate Justice Josue Bellosillo.

Davide said the court promulgated a historic decision and affirmed its duty under the Constitution. He quoted Bellosillo as saying the court must rule without consideration to "political exigency, personal ambition or ill-advised agitation to change."

The Supreme Court on Monday declared the impeachment move against Davide unconstitutional but opposition congressmen said they would defy the court, prompting the House to call for a vote on the issue.

Majority Leader Rep. Neptali Gonzales Jr. (Mandaluyong City) declared the impeachment complaint against Davide was now "water under the bridge."

"As far as the House is concerned, the issue has come to an end," he said.

Gonzales explained the logical conclusion of the declaration made by De Venecia is the non-transmittal of the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

Pro-impeachment congressmen led by Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen earlier moved for a reconsideration of the ruling made by De Venecia in abiding by the Supreme Court’s decision.

Dilangalen even went on to declare all positions, including De Venecia’s, vacant.

This prompted congressmen to agree on a motion to call for a nominal voting where each lawmaker is allowed to explain his or her vote.

More than 70 lawmakers belonging to the ruling Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (Lakas-CMD), 23 from the Liberal Party, one each from Aksyon Demokratiko, Reporma and PDP-Laban, and party-list Bayan Muna, Sanlakas, Butil and APEC supported the ruling made by the Speaker.

Among those who supported De Venecia’s ruling, Makati Rep. Teodoro Locsin said the House should not have voted on the Supreme Court’s decision in the first place since it "came to us fresh, unstudied and unread, and the vote in effect "embarrassingly ratified" the high tribunal’s ruling.

Locsin blamed his colleagues from the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) and the opposition Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino (LDP) for initiating the impeachment complaint against Davide which he described as "trivial in its charges and wrong in law."

"But the opposition, faced with defeat, eating the ashes of its blasted folly, just won’t stop but insists on snatching humiliation from the jaws of defeat by prolonging, without any prospect of success, the agony of an issue that wiser men sought to set aside quietly while it is being carefully studied," Locsin said.

The Makati lawmaker accused the opposition of starting the "conflagration" now consuming the House because of the aborted impeachment complaint.

"The opposition has sought only to add fuel to the fire in a spirit of mischief," he said.

Manila Rep. Harry Angping of NPC said that while the impeachment complaint was effectively defeated, it also showed that the 77 congressmen who wanted the impeachment to prosper remained united until the end.

"We stayed together despite great pressure for us to withdraw," Angping said.

Davao City Rep. Prospero Nograles, one of the Lakas lawmakers who did not sign the complaint, insisted the Supreme Court had no right to interfere with the affairs of Congress.

He said the move by congressmen to respect the Supreme Court decision "is an ultimate sacrifice that was meant to preserve the country’s stability and not an act of submission to the whims and caprices of the high court."

Nograles said De Venecia humbled himself and swallowed his pride just to prevent an incendiary situation that could cause irreversible chaos in the country.

"In order to avert a national crisis, and for the sake of our country’s continued stability, I decided to respect the decision of the Supreme Court," he said.

Pro-impeachment congressmen described their defeat as "the necrological rites of the power of the House to impeach."

"We buried the power to impeach officials who betray the public trust that (Monday) night," Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Albano of Lakas said.

House Minority Leader Rep. Carlos Padilla of Nueva Vizcaya said "crooked officials have been placed out of reach of the impeachment process."

Agusan del Sur. Rep. Rodolfo Plaza (NPC) said the Supreme Court decision effectively deleted the impeachment power of Congress under the Constitution.

Cavite Rep. Gilbert Remulla from the opposition and Negros Oriental Rep. Jacinto Paras from Lakas said the House effectively surrendered its right to impeach.

Both lawmakers said the legal way to remove an impeachable official has been rendered useless by the court ruling.

"The people will have to resort to other (extra constitutional) measures to effect a regime change," Paras said.

‘Return To Sender’

Presidential Deputy Spokesman Ricardo Saludo said the House vote "resolves this issue in a manner that we feel advances democracy."

The crisis began last month when some 86 lawmakers crossed party lines seeking to impeach Davide for alleged mismanagement of the P4-billion Judiciary Development Fund (JDF). Davide denied any wrongdoing and charged the congressmen with overstepping their authority.

The currency and stock market plunged as a result of the political uncertainty. Critics said the opposition wanted to punish Davide for unfavorable rulings against its ranks.

Senate President Franklin Drilon said the Senate will not cooperate to keep the impeachment issue alive.

"I think it’s time to move on, and I appeal to everyone to put an end to this impeachment controversy, put his behind us, and let the healing process begin," he said.

Drilon called on the pro-impeachment congressmen to respect the decision of the Supreme Court.

"There has to be a closure on this controversy," Drilon said. "And it is for the good of the country that we close this controversy which has divided us."

Drilon reiterated the Senate will only receive the impeachment complaint if "properly transmitted."

He said any other method of transmittal to the Senate will not be officially recognized.

"Even if there are 176 signatures, that is already beside the point as the Supreme Court has ruled that the second impeachment complaint (against Davide) is unconstitutional, and as I said last week, I will respect the decision of the Supreme Court," Drilon said.

For his part, Sen. Ralph Recto said the articles of impeachment will be a "dead arrival" at the Senate.

"They (pro-impeachment congressmen) will be submitting a lifeless complaint. The Supreme Court has terminated it. The Senate cannot resuscitate the dead. The articles of impeachment will be returned to sender because the Senate cannot accept a supposed output of the House which it did not approve in the plenary," he said.

Opposition leader Sen. Edgardo Angara, LDP president, said that as far as the House is concerned, the issue on impeachment against Davide "is already over and done with."

Angara said the Supreme Court decision is "a short term gain."

"But (the ruling) leaves is with a long term damage to the constitutional system," he said. "Short term because it diffused the pieces and we can do other things. Long term because the check and balance that we need from the constitutional system is destroyed."

Angara also advised pro-impeachment congressmen against transmitting the impeachment case to the Senate.

He said pro- and anti-Davide groups "suffered a little bit out of the controversy."

"Political options and remedies have been exhausted... I think everybody has suffered a little bit out of this ordeal. But the important thing is it’s done and finished and then we get on and move again," Angara said. - With reports from Aurea Calica, Jose Rodel Clapano, AFP