Opposition lawmakers said yesterday they would take the battle to oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to the streets if her dominant allies in Congress block an impeachment complaint.
Lawmakers were finalizing the complaint -- a draft claimed Arroyo "stole, cheated and lied" to rise and stay in power -- that they plan to file today before she delivers her televised State of the Nation address in Congress, opposition Representative Rolex Suplico said.
Arroyo's aides have taken steps to block the new complaint on a legal technicality. The complaint cites at least 10 alleged crimes, including elections fraud, corruption and obstruction of justice, and claims she is vulnerable to at least four of the six constitutional grounds for impeachment.
PHOTO: AP
"If there is no chance for our complaint to be accepted by the House [of Representatives], we intend to withdraw it and tell the people that there is no hope in the impeachment process," Suplico said. "We can now go to the streets."
Left-wing lawmakers have warned that a "people power" revolt, similar to what ousted dictator Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and President Joseph Estrada in 2001, could erupt if pro-Arroyo lawmakers, who comprise a strong majority in the 236-strong House, use their numbers or legal tactics to kill or weaken the impeachment complaint.
Anti-Arroyo protests have failed so far to generate the numbers or staying power of the earlier revolts. A private lawyer, Oliver Lozano, filed an impeachment complaint against Arroyo before Congress on June 27, alleging she rigged last year's closely fought presidential race by calling an elections official to discuss ways of ensuring at least a million-vote lead. Lozano based his complaint on alleged wiretaps by military intelligence. A lawyer for Arroyo responded that the wiretaps could not be used against her because they were illegally obtained.
Arroyo has admitted she made a "lapse in judgment" by talking with an elections official before the count was final, but has not directly commented on the authenticity of the recordings and has denied influencing the election results.
Pro-Arroyo lawmakers could approve restrictive impeachment rules, including banning the wiretaps as evidence, that could make a conviction less likely, Suplico said. Police and troops were put on full alert ahead of Arroyo's address at the House of Representatives in suburban Quezon City, where groups for and against Arroyo are expected to rally. A no-fly zone was to be imposed on a 1km radius.
Left-wing Representative Satur Ocampo said he and other anti-Arroyo lawmakers would boycott the address.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS