Manila: A third impeachment complaint has been filed against Philippine President Benigno Aquino over alleged corruption.
Aquino created a programme funded by savings from executive departments in 2011 and released part of that money to senators and congressmen in 2012, a juggling of funds that the Supreme Court had declared unconstitutional.
“President Aquino should be impeached because he violated the Constitution by usurping Congress’ power of the purse when he created through an executive order the Disbursement Acceleration Programme (DAP) in 2011,” Congressman Neri Colmenares told Gulf News.
Bayan, Colmenares’ sectoral party in the House of Representatives, endorsed the impeachment complaint filed by 28 representatives of various groups.
Two other impeachment complaints were filed against Aquino earlier. They are awaiting endorsement from congressmen and sectoral parties at the House of Representatives.
Aquino will have to face these impeachment complaints when he gives his State of the Nation Address at the opening of the houses of Congress on July 28.
“The transfer of funds from the executive level to the legislative level, which happened in late 2012 exacerbated the country’s corrupt pork barrel system,” said Congressman Carlos Zarate, also of Bayan.
He referred to the release of P50 million (Dh4.166 million) to several senators and congressmen in late 2012, after the two houses of Congress impeached in mid-2012 former Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona over alleged non-declaration of assets.
When the matter was disclosed by former Senator Jinggoy Estrada, Senate President Franklin Drilon and Budget Secretary Florencio Abad revealed that the funds given to the senators and congressman came from DAP.
It was the first time that the presidential level admitted the existence of such a funding agency, which releases funds according to the president’s discretion.
Critics said the presidential palace’s extension of additional funds to the senators and congressmen was a form of belated bribery after Corona’s impeachment.
Aquino “perpetrated multiple counts of technical malversation and corruption of public officials,” Congressman Fernando Hicap of Children of Sweat, another sectoral party at the House of Representatives which endorsed the impeachment complaint.
The President “betrayed the public trust by committing tyrannical abuse of his powers, violated his oath of office. For this, he must be held accountable so that lessons much be learnt. For his he must be impeached,” said the grouping in its impeachment complaint filed versus the president before noon of Monday.
Those who filed the impeachment complaint included six militant groups; four non-Catholic Christian church affiliated groups; two newly created anti-pork barrel groups; one consumer group; two anti-crime groups; one whistle blower group; and one progressive government workers’ group.
Individuals who joined the complaining group included one former congresswoman affiliated with a militant sectoral party at the House of Representatives; one retired Catholic archbishop; two professors of the premier University of the Philippines; one musician; and the mother of a missing student activist.
Protesters have vowed to hold a major rally against Aquino at the opening of the houses of Congress. At least two more groups are preparing their respective impeachment complaints against the President.
When he ran for office in 2010, Aquino campaigned on an anti-corruption platform.
When he became president, he tasked government officials to “walk the straight path”.
He called for the investigation and arrest of senators and congressmen who allegedly approved the siphoning of their development funds to ghost projects that were supposed to be implemented by bogus non-governmental organisations that were created by businesswoman Janet Lim Napoles for the alleged scam.
At least three senators, their respective chiefs of staff, and several congressmen were arrested for plunder, including Napoles.
But she insisted that Budget Secretary Abad was the one who taught her how to operate the alleged scam, when he was still a congressman.
Abad and Aquino are allies. Abad has been criticised as the architect of Aquino’s DAP.
Claiming to be a victim and not a mastermind in the misuse of congressional development funds, Napoles requested the justice department to allow her to become a state witness.
Aquino’s popularity started to plummet in June, a private survey group said.
