MANILA, 24 May — A campaign to impeach controversial Philippine poll Commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco got a boost on Wednesday, with Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella getting the ball rolling in the House of Representatives.
Puentevella yesterday also said he is ready to endorse the impeachment complaint to be filed by various nongovernmental organizations at the House of Representatives next week.
In a privilege speech on Wednesday, the legislator called for Tancangco’s impeachment for “betraying the public trust” with her many “failures.”
Puentevella enumerated 10 reasons why Tangcangco should be kicked out immediately.
Among these were her fixation on voter registration rather on improving the conduct and accuracy of the vote count and her failure to bring about the automation of the vote count in the May 14, 2001 elections as chair of the Commission on Election (Comelec) modernization committee.
Puentevella also assailed Tangcangco for her supposed bias for the VRIS project by causing the award of the contract to Photokina for 6.5 billion pesos even if the Comelec had a budget of only 1.2 billion pesos for the project.
A number of congressmen, during interpellation, asked Puentevella if the impeachment complaint should include Commissioners Ralph Lantion, Mehol Sadain and Rufino Javier, who have been described as part of the Tancangco-led “Gang of Four” in the Comelec.
But Puentevella said it was Tancangco alone that he was after, as there was enough evidence to get her impeachment rolling.
An impeachment move has to get the signatures of 77 representatives, comprising one-third of the House membership, to send the complaint to the Senate.
Once the complaint reaches the Senate, the chamber convenes itself into an impeachment court, with House members acting as prosecutors and the senators as judges.
The only impeachment case ever to be tried by the post-Marcos Congress was that of then President Joseph Estrada two years ago.
When a majority of the senators refused to allow the opening of a bank envelope presented as evidence against Estrada, the prosecutors walked out and people took to the streets in what became known as the “People Power 2” that led to Estrada’s resignation on Jan. 20, 2001.
In the People Vs. Tancangco campaign that Puentevella endorsed in his privileged speech, more than 120 signatures of organizations have already been attached to the charge sheet and many more groups and individuals were joining as of yesterday.
Those who have already signed include local and overseas organizations from different sectors of society — business, youth, religious, civil society, urban poor, women, and professionals.
These included overseas Filipino groups such as the International Coalition on Overseas Filipinos Voting Rights, Friends of Overseas Filipinos, Inc. (the Netherlands), Overseas Filipinos Worldnet Foundation, Inc., Kaibigan ng OCWs, Inc., Cebuano-Speaking Organization in Saudi Arabia, eLagda-Riyadh, and eLagda-Vancouver.
Also signing were the National Citizens’ Movement for Free Elections (Namfrel), National Secretariat of Social Action, Justice and Peace (NASSA — CBCP), Konsyensyang Pilipino, Kongreso ng Mamamayang Pilipino (Kompil), Concerned Women of the Philippines, AWARE, Katotohanan, Makati Business Club, Cebu Business Club, National Council of Churches of the Philippines, Akbayan, Concerned Citizens of Abra for Good Government.
Information Technology Foundation of the Philippines, Ranao Good Government and Free Election Reform Movement, Youth Reform Movement for Free Elections, Maranao Professional League, Lanao del Sur Federation of Youth Groups, Association of Women Religious in the Archdiocese of Manila, Citizens’ National Network Against Poverty and Corruption, Teresa Makabayan, Kilosbayan, COPA, Institute for the Urban Poor.
Damayan ng mga Maralitang Pilipinong Api (DAMPA), Philippine Anti-Graft Crusaders, Inc., Alliance for Progressive Labor, Empowering Civic Participation in Governance, Inc., Federation of Lasallian Institutions, Ateneo de Davao University, Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan, Sanggunian ng mga Mag-Aaral ng Ateneo, Manindigan, Christian Family Movement, Diocesan Public Affairs Apostolate, Pagbabago@Pilipinas, Makati NGO Network, among many others.
