MANILA, 9 September 2005 — Ilocos Norte Rep. Imee Marcos returned home from abroad last night and her opposition colleagues demanded that she explain her disappearing act when the House of Representatives voted on the impeachment case against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Radio and television reports said the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ daughter arrived at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila last night from Singapore and evaded reporters.

INQ7.net also reported that Imee hid behind airport assistant General Manager Octavio Lina as she was escorted through a ramp to a van that was waiting for her.

No official explanation was given on why the normally ebullient and media-friendly lawmaker avoided the reporters.

Earlier, her opposition colleagues demanded that she and others who went missing on the day of reckoning account for their act.

Pro-impeachment legislators were routed on Tuesday as the House in a plenary session voted to dismiss the impeachment complaints against Arroyo for graft, election fraud and other violations of the constitution.

Only 51 pushed for impeachment, way below the 79 votes required to overturn a decision of the House committee on justice that dismissed all three impeachment complaints lodged against the president.

During the Tuesday voting, an overwhelming 158 voted for committee report six abstained, including some representatives who were among those counted earlier to have endorsed one of the impeachment complaints.

Estrada’s Allies

Among those who abstained or went missing were members of ousted President Joseph Estrada’s PMP party, fueling speculation that Arroyo had made a deal with her political rival who is under detention for the crime of plunder.

Estrada has denied making any deal and his party has fired its spokesman, Estrada ally Didagen Dilangalen, whose wife — Rep. Baisendig Dilangalen of Maguindanao province — abstained in the voting.

Rep. Luis “Baby” Asistio of Caloocan City was honest enough to admit leaving for the United States to avoid being forced to sign the amended impeachment complaint filed by his colleagues against Arroyo.

“I wanted to avoid the pressure from any group, including my bosom buddy Joseph Estrada,” Asistio was quoted in a press statement distributed to local media.

Asistio, who is now in Los Angeles, was one of the 21 members of the House of Representatives who did not vote on the justice committee report junking the three impeachment complaints against the president.

Asistio believes Arroyo should not be impeached because she is not the duly elected President.

Instead, he wants Arroyo to be forced to step down because the impeachment process only covers officials with legitimate mandates.

Unexpected Turnaround

Pro-impeachment lawmakers said they were caught by surprise that three of those who signed the impeachment complaint —

Imee Marcos, Joseph Santiago of Catanduanes and Reynaldo Uy of Western Samar — went missing during the crucial voting.

Representative Alan Peter Cayetano (Taguig-Pateros), spokesman of the impeachment team, and House Minority Leader Francis Escudero said the absence of three were “unexpected.”

The other opposition members who backed out were Oscar Malapitan (Caloocan), Antonio Serapio (Valenzuela) and Vincent “Bingbong” Crisologo (Quezon City).

Cayetano said Rep. Ruy Lopez of Davao City attended the vote even when his brother just died. He said the impeachment group met with the eight lawmakers “almost every day” last week but they gave no indication that they were going to be absent.

Cayetano added that the group would have appreciated it and understood if they had done so and then explained their decision.

Bags of Money

“We had reports on Saturday and Sunday that government officials were going around with bags of money (and enticing lawmakers not to attend). It’s unfair to speculate but would you blame our members who refused the offers if they have doubts (about their absent colleagues)?” Cayetano said.

“Although we are disappointed, we hope that they would come up with a logical explanation (for their absence),” he added.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Teodoro Casiño said his group had doubts about Imee Marcos, noting that they had heard reports that the Marcos family was trying to get a deal with the administration for the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani (Heroes’ Cemetery).

“We had doubts because she was also not able to bring along other members of the Northern Bloc (to join the pro-impeachment ranks),” said Casiño, referring to lawmakers from Northern Luzon region.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez denied yesterday that the government had forged secret deal with the Marcoses. “There is no deal. The proposal to bury Ferdinand Marcos is a matter of serious policy issue that only the president can decide,” Gonzalez said.

But Gonzalez admitted that lawyer Oliver Lozano personally talked to him last Aug. 23 on this possibility.

Gonzalez said Lozano even enticed him to agree by saying that Marcos’ burial would look good for the administration because more than five million Ilocanos would come to Manila to attend the funeral.

“I told him I can’t assure him anything because the decision would be up to the president,” Gonzalez said.

He told Lozano however that he would consult the Cabinet.

“There should be a confrontation,” said Iloilo Rep. Rolex Suplico. “You cannot sleep, drink, talk and dine with us and then absent yourself at the day of reckoning.”

“We did not have any indication that Imee Marcos will be absent. She was a very, very active member of the group, attending even our confidential meetings,” he added.

Rep. Jacinto Paras of Negros Oriental noted that Marcos was even made an opposition representative to the powerful Commission on Appointments.

“If there is somebody who should stick with the opposition, it’s her. She got the choicest post — at the Commission on Appointments,” Paras said.

He added that Marcos and Santiago were close associates of Escudero, with Santiago also getting a plum post at the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal.

“We were with Joseph just last week. It’s hard to explain. It’s not for me to judge them,” Paras said. (With input from Inquirer News Service)