Asian Political News: 2ND LD: Move to impeach Arroyo fizzles out in Congress

MANILA, Sept. 6 Kyodo

(EDS: UPDATING WITH OFFICIAL VOTE TALLY)

The Philippine House of Representatives on Tuesday threw out all three impeachment complaints against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, giving a one-year reprieve to the beleaguered leader.

After an overnight debate, the 236-member Congress voted 158-51 to junk the impeachment motions filed separately by two private lawyers and opposition lawmakers. Six lawmakers abstained, while the remainder were absent.

House Speaker Jose de Venecia lauded the move to dismiss all three complaints, saying, ''The fact remains that the best option is still (Arroyo).''

All three complaints allege that Arroyo cheated in the May 2004 poll to ensure her reelection. The complaint filed in July 25 by the opposition further accused her of human rights violations, corruption and, together with her family, of receiving kickbacks from illegal gambling operators.

The Constitution provides that only one impeachment proceeding can be conducted against a president or certain public official in a year.

Opposition lawmakers denounced the dismissal of the complaints. ''How can we kill the impeachment complaint without hearing the evidence?'' said opposition lawmaker Allan Peter Cayetano.

House Minority Leader Francis Joseph Escudero said the dismissal does not mean victory for Arroyo. ''We may have lost, we may have not gotten the 79 signatures, but this does not mean that Arroyo has won,'' he said.

Escudero said the search for truth is not over yet, adding that the accusations will haunt Arroyo and her administration.

Anti-Arroyo lawmakers on July 25 filed a beefed up impeachment complaint that accuses Arroyo of ''lying, cheating and stealing.'' However, they failed to muster the 79 votes, or a third of the 236-member Congress needed to bring the complaint to the Senate for an impeachment trial.

But analysts reckon Tuesday's Congress ruling is not a guarantee Arroyo will sail smoothly through the remaining years of her term that ends in June 2010.

''It (the dismissal of the complaints) gets her off the hook legally but it only further disgraces her politically,'' said political analyst Randy David. ''What good does it do that she avoids being impeached but loses her moral right to govern?''

''In the last analysis,'' said David, who writes a weekly column for the Philippine Daily Inquirer, ''the real battle is the political one.''

''(Arroyo) knows this, and she is determined to prevail in it, too. But here the terrain is less easy to manage. The weapon of choice is rhetoric, not money. One has to speak in a credible, consistent and convincing voice,'' he said.

Constitutionalist Joaquin Bernas agrees, warning, ''The cloud over the legitimacy of (Arroyo's) election will continue to haunt her and affect her capacity to govern.''

The complaints to impeach Arroyo stemmed from a tapped phone conversation between her and an election official a few weeks after the May 2004 poll. Arroyo has admitted talking with the official -- who has gone into hiding since the controversy broke out in late June -- but has denied she influenced poll results.

In their complaints, the opposition said Arroyo ''has undermined the integrity of her office, has brought disrepute on the presidency, has committed culpable violations of the Constitution, bribery and graft and corruption, and betrayed public trust.''

Anticipating the dismissal of the complaints, the opposition has vowed to mobilize street protests against Arroyo. ''Let's bring the fight to the streets,'' said left-wing lawmaker Crispin Beltran.

Pro-impeachment legislators are apparently taking the political battle into the streets in a bid to reprise ''people power'' uprisings that have toppled dictator Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986 and Joseph Estrada in January 2001.

But analysts doubted if anti-Arroyo protests could gather steam. Past street demonstrations have not attracted big crowds.

As the lawmakers took the floor to explain their votes in Congress, former President Corazon Aquino led some 4,000 protesters that marched toward the House of Representatives compound. However, they were blocked by riot police.

Anti-Arroyo forces, have been mounting rallies to demand Arroyo's resignation. More protest rallies are expected in the coming weeks as prices of food and other commodities will soar due to the imposition of new taxes and effect of the oil spike in the global market.