The House Committee on Justice voted 54-24 yesterday to junk seven of eight new impeachment complaints against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Rep. Monico Puentevella (Bacolod) and Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (3rd district, Neg. Occ.) said.

The Committee voted to tackle the complaint filed by the Black and White Movement that was endorsed by Representatives Benigno Aquino III (Tarlac), Rep. Nereus Acosta (Bukidnon), Rep. Henedina Abad (Batanes) and Rep. Manuel Mamba (Cagayan), Lacson said. Former Bacolod Councilor Celia Flor said she and Abraham Tingson of the Serve the People Movement Association were among the signatories from Bacolod who joined the Black and White Movement impeachment bid.

Despite the prediction of administration solons that the impeachment bid will not progress, Flor said she is not losing hope.

It should not be about the numbers in Congress, it should be about what is right, she said.

I appeal to the Negros solons to think independently and not vote along partisan lines, she said.

Give the impeachment bid due process, she asked.

Puentevella said the justice committee will determine the sufficiency in form of the impeachment complaint at 1 p.m. today, and on Monday or Tuesday next week, they will determine sufficiency in substance.

If the committee determines that the complaint is sufficient in form and substance, it will go to the plenary, which will either send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate or dismiss it.

However, Puentevella, a member of the justice committee, said he does not think the opposition will get the numbers for the impeachment bid to drag on.

Hopefully by next week we will have final decision on the impeachment bid which, he said, he hopes will be short-lived for the good of the country and Congress itself where emotions heat up.

The Black and White Movement complaint, like the others filed, accuses Arroyo of committing alleged graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust.

The impeachment complaints against the president linked her to corruption and human rights abuses and alleged that she cheated in the 2004 election.*CPG

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