| |
MANILA: The leader of the Philippine congress, who had previously protected President Gloria Arroyo from attempts to impeach her, was voted out of his seat Tuesday after accusing the leader of corruption.
An overwhelming majority of the House of Representatives broke ranks with Jose de Venecia and voted to replace him with close Arroyo ally, Prospero Nograles, after a marathon session that went past midnight Monday.
Of the 240 House members, 174 voted to remove de Venecia, with 35 opposed. The remaining lawmakers either abstained or were not present at the vote.
De Venecia's ouster came after he accused Arroyo's sons, both congressmen, of orchestrating his downfall following the testimony of his son, who had implicated the presidential family during a Senate inquiry last year over an overpriced multi-million telecoms deal with China's state-run firm ZTE.
Arroyo was forced to scrap the 330-million ZTE deal amid the controversy, which also led to the resignation of an elections official close to the president who was said to be brokering the deal.
Arroyo's husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, was implicated in the deal, too.
In an emotional hour-long speech before being voted out, de Venecia accused Arroyo's family of irregularities, including corruption and cheating.
"I know there were many attempts to tamper the elections in 2004," de Venecia said, referring to the hotly contested presidential polls that Arroyo won by a slim margin.
De Venecia said he soon would elaborate on his remarks.
Following the 2004 vote, opposition House lawmakers tried to impeach Arroyo after a recording of a phone call emerged between a woman sounding like the president and an elections officer who appeared to be conspiring to rig the polls.
Arroyo has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but she never denied she was the woman on the tape.
At the time, de Venecia was able to convince his House colleagues not to support an impeachment vote.
But on Tuesday, De Venecia denounced "corruption, perfidy, double-cross" in the Arroyo government, in which he claimed "everything is for sale."
"I will join the opposition to denounce corruption in this administration. I will join the battle against corruption," de Venecia said after he was ousted.
Unsuccessful impeachment bids were launched against Arroyo in 2005, 2006 and 2007 - -- all accusing her of corruption and vote rigging. - AFP/ac
|
