10 Congressmen retract from impeachment move

Ten members of the ruling Lakas (People Power) alliance in the House of Representatives have withdrawn their signatures in the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., as the president's palace remain optimistic that this development will diffuse the crisis that threatens to destabilise President Gloria Arroyo's government.

The withdrawal of the 10 Lakas members could bring down the number of House members who voted to push through with the Davide impeachment below the required third of the 228-member lower chamber necessary for the complaint to be carried.

Seventy-eight members of the House of Representatives voted last week to subject Davide on an impeachment trial by the Senate amid complaints that he misappropriated a multi-million peso fund on unnecessary projects in the Supreme Court.

With the withdrawal of the 10 members, the number of representatives who want Davide to undergo trial would go down to 68 – eight members short of the 76 required to transmit the complaint to the Senate which will carry out the trial of the country's highest magistrate.

The move to impeach Davide which started last week had created an impasse that has paralysed the judicial and legislative branches of government and had left open the possibility that Arroyo could call in the military to break the deadlock.

In a radio interview, Arroyo spokesman Ignacio Bunye said that a report conducted by the Commission on Audit on the controversial fund used by Davide was responsible for the turnaround of some of the Lakas congressmen.

"They have adequate reason and this is the emergence of the Commission on Audit report regarding disbursements of the Judicial Development Fund," Bunye said.

He said that the COA report confirms that the Supreme Court had used the development funds under its disposal in accordance with the law. In three years, he said, it now appears that 89 per cent of the JDF had been given to court employees in the form of living allowance. The law stipulates 80 per cent of the JDF be allocated for employee benefits.

"If this COA report is the basis for withdrawal of their signatures, Congressmen have nothing to be ashamed of. The withdrawal of their signatures will avert a constitutional crisis," he added.