Privilege Hour(S) in the Congress

September 5th, 2005 at 7:33 am (General, National Politics)

As of this moment, the Privilege Hour in the Congress has lasted about 6 hours, and it is still on-going.

The first congressman I heard speak was Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella. He appealed to his colleagues to do the right thing:

We are here not to protect the President. We are here not to protect the Vice-President. We are here not to protect the other impeachable officials…. We are here to protect the entire Filipino nation.

He then declared his resignation as Vice-Chairperson of the House Committee on Justice. He expressed his disappointment over the alleged violation of the Constitution.

After his speech, the plenary session was suspended and he was swarmed by pro-impeachment congressmen. Rep. Roilo Golez had the audacity to speak on the microphone and declare: “Fuentebella for Speaker.” When the session was resumed, Fuentebella insisted that he is not the enemy of the President.

The Privilege Hour was again extended for fifteen more minutes. Rep. Francis Escudero went to the rostrum to then deliver his own speech. He started by rebuking Rep. Marcoleta (who earlier personally attacked Dinky Soliman). He noted that Marcoleta stated that he was angry that Soliman came into their “house” to insult him. Escudero told his colleagues in the congress that: “Hindi po natin bahay ‘to.” He then proceed to quote the House Rules, “The House of Representatives if the house of the people.” He was met with loud approval from the gallery. To which the acting speaker of the house reacted by asking the gallery to refrain from clapping. Escudero said that the administration always reiterates the maxim: Duralex sed lex, or, the law is the law. He implies that the administration does not seem to practice what they preach for he is yet to hear the President sufficiently defend herself.

He challenged the President to defend herself of the allegations of election fraud. He said in the last three months, they have presented evidences and proof supporting their allegations. The President on the other hand, seems to have no intention of proving her innocence despite their calls for giving the President her day in court. He ends by saying that they only want to express how they feel, that they want only what’s good for the country.

The next congressman to deliver a speech was Bayan Rep. Satur Ocampo. He elucidates the President’s failure to curb human rights violations in the country. He even went as far as saying that the President abetted, tolerated and even encouraged human rights violations. And by doing so, according to Rep. Ocampo, she has betrayed public trust. He said, the President can claim neither ignorance nor innocence because Bayan and he himself, has informed the President about it. Among the “staggering figures” that Ocampo presented, here are some which do need some looking into:

4,207 human rights violations
232,796 victims
24,299 families
400 victims of salvaging and summary killings
110 abducted

After Rep. Ocampo, a congressman who seemed to be anti-impeachment spoke up supposedly to answer Escudero’s speech. I was not able to fully understand anything he said.

Then, Rep. Ronaldo Zamora spoke and began by saying he was not prepared but chose to speak anyway. The most significant part of his speech was his iteration that the allegations in the impeachment cases against the President were not solely based on the wiretapped conversations. He stated that the tapes do not serve as their evidence but as mere guides. He stated that they have proven their allegations through facts, documents and witnesses.

Rep. Teddy Boy Locsin also delivered a speech. He pointed out that the task of the Congress plenary is to ask and answer if they believe that the allegations against the President have impeded her from performing her tasks as the president. He says that the point of an impeachment case is that if the Congress has lost its confidence in the President’s capability to lead, she is given that chance to retrieve her credibility through the trial in the Senate. He said that the Justice Committee has failed to answer the question. Thereby, creating and open-ended situation in which no questions were answered and there is no proper closure of the issue.

Many more others spoke before Fuentebella and after Locsin.

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