MANILA: Malacañang is confident President Aquino will survive the impeachment complaints against him without having to move his allies in the House of Representatives to junk the three cases that were found sufficient in form.
“We certainly do not agree with the allegations in the three impeachment complaints. However, there is a process in the House, and that’s a process dictated by the Constitution, so we respect the process,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said in a press briefing yesterday.
“As to ‘worried’? We’re not concerned about the impeachment complaint proceedings right now, although it is a very important proceeding in the House. What we’re more concerned with is really how to address all the concerns of the country that affect our countrymen,” he said.
Two impeachment complaints filed against Aquino were related to the Disbursement Acceleration Programme (DAP), parts of which were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. The third complaint was in connection with the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) between the Philippines and the United States.
“When we say confident, then there’s assumption… there’s this implication that we’re moving heaven and earth to do that. What we’re saying is we believe that the President has not committed any impeachable offense and I’m sure… when they go through sufficiency of substance, when they go through the allegations of the impeachment complaints… they will see that there is no merit (to allegations) the President has committed an impeachable offense,” Lacierda said.
People were entitled to their own opinions, he said.
“But, the greater Filipino people, a majority of the Filipino people, are with us in the ‘straight path.’ So we believe that the President has not done any impeachable offense,” Lacierda said.
The DAP is still pending before the SC because the government has filed a motion for reconsideration.
The President and his officials have defended the mechanism, saying it accelerated the implementation of programmes and projects listed in the budget by using savings.
The Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement was signed to increase the rotational presence of American forces in the Philippines in line with the Visiting Forces Agreement and the Mutual Defence Treaty.
In all three cases, the President was accused of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.
THE PHILIPPINE STAR
