OPPOSITION Senator JV Ejercito said he will not support the move to impeach President Benigno Aquino III as he explained that this will only cause more divisiveness and will not help the country politically and economically.
In a press conference on Tuesday, Ejercito said the popularity of the President has not declined enough and has not dropped to a critical level that impeachment can become a possibility.
“Hindi pa kasi umabot sa kritikal na level ang pagbagsak ng kanyang popularidad. Aminin natin na sa House of Representatives it is really a numbers game and obviously they don’t have it. Palagay ko at this point mahihirapan ang anuman impeachment. Although bumaba ang trust rating ng Pangulo, it hasn’t reached the critical level yet,” said Ejercito.
Earlier, some House members belonging to the opposition United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) said they will not endorse any impeachment complaint against the Chief Executive “out of delicadeza.”
It was said that Vice President Jejomar Binay, a top official of UNA, himself is not buying the idea of impeaching President Aquino.
The Vice President refused to make any comment on the issue of DAP but he earlier urged the present leadership for transparency, which the present administration heeded by releasing the DAP list recently through the Department of Budget and Management.
Binay will replace Aquino if the latter will be impeached.
Exactly a week before his fifth State of the Nation Address, a broad array of anti-pork barrel advocates filed an impeachment complaint against President Aquino, accusing him of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust arising from the unconstitutional DAP.
In their complaint, the complainants, composed mostly of militant groups led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general Renato Reyes and others who participated in the Million People’s march last year, accused Aquino of using the DAP to turn the General Appropriations Act (GAA) into his own personal pork barrel.
The President is accused of culpably violating the Constitution by usurping Congress’ power of the purse and undermining the principles of separation of powers and system of checks and balances.
The complaint said Aquino betrayed the public by exacerbating the corrupt pork barrel system, committing tyrannical abuse of his powers, violating his oath of office, and perpetrating multiple counts of technical malversation and corruption of public officials.
“For this, he must be held to account so that lessons must be learned. For this he must be impeached,” read the complaint endorsed by Representatives Neri Colmenares and Carlos Zarrate (Bayan Muna), Fernando Hicap (Anakpawis), Emmie de Jesus and Luz Ilagan (Gabriela) and Terry Ridon (Kabataan).
The complainants alleged that the DAP further exacerbated the corruption in the pork barrel system by giving additional pork to lawmakers and local officials, in exchange for their support for the Aquino administration. (Camille P. Balagtas/Jun M. Sarmiento/Sunnex
source: http://www.sunstar.com.ph/breaking-news/2014/07/22/ejercito-aquino-impeachment-won-t-prosper-355426
