Former vice president Teofisto Guingona, along with militant groups will file another impeachment complaint against President Arroyo before the House of Representatives today.

Spearheading the action are Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and human rights watchdog Karapatan.

Other complainants are National Artist Bienvenido Lumbera, Sr. Mary John Mananzan, and leaders of various mass formations, as well as relatives of victims of human rights abuses.

Lawmakers from party-list groups Bayan Muna, Gabriela and Anakpawis are expected to endorse the impeachment complaint.

Among the principal charges against Mrs. Arroyo are violations of human rights, electoral fraud, and the question of the legitimacy of her presidency.

The Public Interest Law Center (PILC) shall serve as counsel for the complainants.

“The impeachment complaint is described as ‘comprehensive’ because unlike the Pulido complaint, it includes human rights abuses as one of the principal charges against the President,” according to Bayan chairwoman Carol Araullo.

“The filing of the complaint serves to challenge the existing skewed impeachment rules of Congress. For more than two years now, the impeachment process has become a virtual rat race. 

“He who files the first complaint effectively bars anyone from availing of the same process. We want this process to change.”

The complainants said multiple impeachment complaints should be allowed if these form part of one impeachment proceeding.

“We challenge House Speaker Jose de Venecia not to bar the filing of the complaint,” Araullo said.

“He must fulfill his ministerial duty of referring the complaint to the Justice Committee. Besides, he has been calling for a moral revolution against corruption. The impeachment process has the same goal of weeding out corruption in the executive.”

If the House secretary general refuses to receive the new impeachment complaint, they would not hesitate to bring the matter before the Supreme Court, the complainants added.

Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary general, warned that the House  would have a “bigger headache” if it would bar this latest impeachment complaint against Mrs. Arroyo.

“We won’t give up the fight that easily,” he said.

“They should be careful before they hastily dismiss this complaint. Their actions will form the basis of our going to the Supreme Court.”

Reyes said House leaders would have to first explain in writing their reason for not allowing this new impeachment complaint.

“This government must know that all means of making Mrs. Arroyo accountable will be exhausted by the people,” he said.

Reyes said the impeachment complaint they would be filing this morning is “stronger” than the three-page complaint earlier filed by lawyer Roberto Rafael Pulido.

Pulido’s complaint should not be a hindrance for other groups to file other impeachment complaints against Mrs. Arroyo since lawmakers at the House have yet to draft and make final the articles of impeachment, he added.

Reyes said while the House can initiate only one impeachment case, until the articles of impeachment are elevated to the Senate, it could not be said that an impeachment complaint is already initiated.

De Venecia must refer their complaint to the House Committee on Justice, he added.

Meanwhile, women’s group Gabriela is hopeful that the impeachment complaint to be filed by cause-oriented groups this morning will finally prosper.

Emmi de Jesus, Gabriela secretary general, said the new impeachment complaint to be filed by militant groups today is “buffered by more and stronger evidences” that would prove that Mrs. Arroyo no longer has the right to stay in Malacañang.

“Every year, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo racks in more crimes against the people,” he said.

“We will not be deterred by the technical obstacles being imposed by Congressman Matt Defensor. The people’s right to oust a much unwanted president should overrule any technicality.

“The numbers game (that) Mrs. Arroyo (is) so confident would favor her no longer holds. With her shameless scandals rocking even her own people and causing more rifts among so-called ‘pro-administration’ legislators, this impeachment case has better prospects.”

Opposition boycott

Opposition lawmakers plan to boycott the hearings of the House committee on justice on the three-page impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Roel Pulido against President Arroyo.

Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez, who is a deputy minority leader, said over the weekend the minority is seriously considering a boycott of the impeachment hearings and proceedings which begin today.

“That is because from the start, we considered this Pulido complaint a sham,” he said in a television interview.

Golez said staying away from the hearings would be consistent with the minority’s decision to ask the Supreme Court to clarify its ruling on the initiation of an impeachment process.

Another minority member, Florencio Noel, said as long as the ruling is not changed, impeachment would always be a race on who files a complaint first.

The SC handed down the ruling in a case involving then Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., whose impeachment was sought in connection with the alleged misuse of a judiciary fund administered by his son, who was employed in his office.

Part of the money was allegedly used to buy expensive curtains for Davide’s office and conference room.

The tribunal stopped the House from hearing a new complaint against Davide since a previous petition had already been referred to the House committee on justice and that an impeachment process has already been initiated.

Had the Court not taken that decision, Davide would have been impeached since the new complaint was supported by more than 70 lawmakers, enough to send it to the Senate for trial.

Only one-third of all House members is needed to transmit a complaint to the Senate. – With Jess Diaz