Attempts For An Impeachment Trial
On June 27, human rights lawyer Oliver Lozano filed an impeachment case against Arroyo on the grounds of "betrayal of public trust". Ten minutes later, Jose Rizaldo P. Lopez, a private citizen, filed a similar impeachment complaint. The mainstream pro-impeachment bloc in Congress advocated an amended version of the Lozano complaint.
On August 23, the justice committee delayed a vote on the impeachment complaints, instead focusing on a vote on procedures. The committee eventually sent Report 1012 to the rest of the House of Representatives. The report suggested that impeachment proceedings should cease altogether. Both chambers of Congress and the justice committee are dominated by Arroyo's coalition allies.
On September 6, the minority could not garner the 79 signatures to send the amended impeachment complaint to the Senate. A vote of Report 1012 commenced in favor of the report. Impeachment proceedings ceased, preventing a trial for Arroyo for at least one year.
The following year on January 16, Lozano re-filed the amended impeachment complaint. However, this came with stiff opposition from opposition members in the House, most notably House Minority Leader Francis Escudero, who threatened him with a complaint with the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. This was after the opposition claims they plan to file a stronger complaint, calling Lozano's tactics "illegal and unethical", especially because the opposition did not consent to the filing of the complaint. In June, one whole year after the beginning of the scandal, several impeachment complaints were also filed by different groups.
Read more about this topic: Hello Garci Scandal
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