NEW IMPEACHMENT raps were filed against the President yesterday after the lapse of the one-year ban on the filing of an ouster case.

Jose ‘Joey’ P. de Venecia III, Iloilo Vice-Governor Rolex T. Suplico, and public lawyer Herminio Harry L. Roque, Jr. filed the complaint with the office of the House secretary-general.

But this early, both the House majority and minority doubted that the complaint — the fourth since 2005 — will generate enough votes given the numerical strength of presidential allies among congressmen.

Malacañang, meanwhile, branded the accusations as “rehashed issues.” It refused to comment extensively on the issue.

The complaints against the President were:

* betrayal of public trust when she approved the allegedly overpriced $329-million National Broadband Network deal with China’s Zhong Xing Telecommunications Equipment Co. Ltd. (ZTE Corp.);
* betrayal of public trust when she sold the country’s gold reserves in Mt. Diwalwal to a sister firm of ZTE;
* bribery when she allegedly authorized the distribution of bribe money to members of Congress to hasten the referral of the impeachment case filed by Roel Pulido in 2007 to prevent the filing of a genuine impeachment complaint; and
* graft and corruption by allowing the improper use of at least P5 billion in loans obtained by the Quedan Rural Credit and Guarantee Corp. to allegedly fund her 2004 electoral campaign.

Other accusations were human rights violations that include extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances; culpable violation of the Constitution for approving the Northrail project without requisite approval of the monetary board; graft and corruption for her administration’s alleged involvement in various irregularities including the P728-million fertilizer scandal and P2-billion swine scandal; and alleged electoral fraud in 2004. All of these were carried over from previous impeachment cases in 2005, 2006 and 2007.

Mr. Roque voiced confidence that the complaint will be sufficient in form.

“If the Palace’s allies in the House will junk it, it won’t be because of a technicality or a lack of evidence,” he told reporters in a chance interview after the filing.

Northrail involvement

Mr. De Venecia said he will ask his father, Pangasinan Rep. Jose C. de Venecia, Jr. to endorse the case. Asked in an earlier radio interview whether he considered the impact of his father’s involvement in the Northrail project, the younger De Venecia said this issue will be handled by the legal team.

Bayan Muna party-list Reps. Saturnino C. Ocampo and Teodoro A. Casiño, and Gabriela party-list Rep. Liza L. Maza endorsed the complaint.

Previous impeachment bids were junked by the House due to technicalities.

Last year, Mr. Pulido filed an alleged sham impeachment complaint, which was endorsed by then Laguna Rep. Edgar S. San Luis, a Malacañang ally.

In 2005 and again in 2006, Marcos loyalist Oliver O. Lozano filed an impeachment case that opposition lawmakers branded as a deliberately flawed complaint to nullify subsequent legitimate cases.

All complaints were rejected for lack of sufficiency in substance.

Speaker Prospero C. Nograles said the new impeachment complaint was ill-timed amid a global financial crisis recession and general elections in 2010.

“This impeachment is a political exercise and we will deal with it head-on. At the end of the day it will be a numbers game,” he said in a statement.

Not enough support

Minority Leader and San Juan Rep. Ronaldo B. Zamora said in a telephone interview, “Up to this point, I’ll be honest. I haven’t seen much reaction from the other congressmen aside from those in the minority. At this point we may lack the numbers.”

Majority Leader Arthur D. Defensor, Sr. (3rd district) affirmed this statement in a separate telephone interview. “I haven’t read the complaint yet, but I doubt if it will flourish, because they don’t have the numbers.”

Under House rules, the secretary-general will transmit the complaint to the Speaker, who has 10 session days from the resumption of sessions on Nov. 10 to forward it to the rules committee to schedule it for plenary debates. Congress is currently on a month-long recess.

The complaint will be referred to the justice committee, which has 60 session days to determine whether the case is sufficient in form and substance.

After the determination of form and substance, the committee report will be submitted on the floor either for adoption or rejection. The complaint will only reach the Senate for trial if it gets the vote of one-third of the total House membership.

In a text message to reporters, Deputy Presidential Spokesman Anthony T. Golez said: “[We have] no new comment on rehashed issues.”

In a chance interview, Trade Secretary Peter B. Favila said the business community is not pleased with a new impeachment complaint.

“I’ve heard some leaders [of the business community]. They called me up yesterday and they were saying that it’s a pity [that the complaint was filed] during this time when the whole world is focused on what we need to do because of the financial turmoil. Yet here in the Philippines, we’re still bogged down with politics,” he said.

“I’ve been saying all along, if we can lessen politics here, we can do much more and a lot better than our ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) neighbors,” he added.

In a related development, opposition Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano said: “We are probable jurors if the impeachment case reaches the Senate. What is important is that there is a mechanism to hold the President accountable.”

Wait and see

The Senate, led by Mr. Cayetano as chairman of the committee on accountability of public officers and investigations (Blue Ribbon), had investigated the broadband contract, the alleged Palace bribery and swine scandal. The committee has not yet released its recommendations on the three issues.

The Senate agricultural committee, then chaired by former Senator Ramon B. Magsaysay, Jr. had investigated the P728-million fertilizer program and recommended the prosecution of former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Joc-Joc” I. Bolante, who was the alleged culprit in the diversion of fertilizer funds. As for the Northrail project, the Senate — then convened as committee of the whole — had also failed to release a committee report.

Mr. Cayetano said congressmen should see the merits of the case, but noted, “We should get away from the numbers game because it’s a matter of justice… Definitely patronage politics has been one of the cornerstones of the [Arroyo] administration.” — Jhoanna Frances S. Valdez, Alexis Douglas B. Romero and Bernard U. Allauigan