Belmonte-led House has the numbers to
impeach Obudsman Merceditas Gutierrez
But will it?
Will it show mercy instead and allow ex-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s BFF (best friend forever) to simply resign?
Last Friday, in connection with an article I was writing for my HK newspaper, I interviewed the incoming Speaker of the House Feliciano Belmonte.
He told me he expected to “get upwards of 200 votes…about 230.” At the moment there are 269 lawmakers but their number could rise a bit once other party list group nominees are proclaimed.
Belmonte estimated that his former Lakas-CMD Party would be left with 25 to 30 members and that would include Mrs Arroyo, her brother-in-law and two sons.
Wow. Out of power, out of fair-weather friends.
He added: “In my opinion they (the Arroyo camp) cannot reach 90 people in the House – the critical number.” He was referring to the number of congressmen needed to impeach a President. Therefore at the moment President Benigno Aquino III is safe.
Counting the defections from various parties, the Liberal Party itself would end up with around 90 members, he estimated.
Only after the interview did I realize that if you add up the new numbers of the LP (90) and Bayan Muna Party (7) and Akbayan Party (2), you actually have 99 votes – or more than the constitutionally required 1/3 votes needed in the House to impeach anyone.
ANYONE could include Ombudsman Gutierrez, or officials of the Commission on Elections or even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court if they cared or dared to.
But from what I have seen of Belmonte, he’s not a confrontational guy when it comes to political battles. He’s more the type who kills you softly with kindness.
[First a full disclosure. I knew Congressman Belmonte initially, not as a source, but as the husband of my late editor Betty Go-Belmonte. He used to fetch her from Philippine Star newspaper and she would offer to drop me home. He is one journalist who made a successful crossover to politics. He used to write for The Manila Chronicle before Marcos' Martial Law. While he was mayor of Quezon City where I live, I saw him thrice - once to interview him on the burned down death hotel which its owner was turning into a crematorium, funeral parlor and columbarium despite the lack of city hall permits and unresolved court cases. And twice recently in my capacity as acting president of our street neighborhood association. Before I assumed the post, my neighbors had long been fighting to shut down a commercal swimming pool-beer garden in our street for security, safety and health reasons. But the owner is politically connected. Policemen are among her clients and the owner managed to have my neighbors'complaints dismissed inside city hall. I thought that sucked and asked then Mayor Belmonte to allow a case review. I will write about this in later entries because the experience showed me up close how hard it is to fight for your rights. The battle is on-going to this day.]
How did he feel the morning after
I was curious to find out how Belmonte felt about his former party boss Arroyo – “Have you met since your defection?”
“Sure,” he said. “At the House. We bumped into one another during a photo session. We in fact had a photo with her beside me.”
I asked him who would have a bigger office in the House – the House Speaker or Mrs Arroyo. And added: “How did you feel, she used to be your boss and now you’re higher (in position)?”
“How do I feel? You know, ranks and stuff like that don’t really matter to me. It’s not something I’m conscious of, that makes me look taller or authoritative. I just react very normally to her. ”
I believe him. When I saw him at his office in city hall, it was so modest. It did not look like the office of the mayor of one of the wealthiest cities of the country.
Since he was a former Lakas official, I asked him if he thought the charges against Mrs Arroyo had basis. His reply – “I don’t care to comment on that. It’s the subject of various inquiries.”
Spoken like a man out to clinch tomorrow’s Speakership election.
President Noynoy is slowly putting together the various blocs that would help him deliver his promises. The fact that he personally met with Senator Juan Ponce Enrile last night shows that his Liberal Party is trying to muscle into having a working majority with the very man who gave President Noy’s mother such grief during her presidency. Instead of his Liberal Party ending up the minority bloc in the Senate.
My first lesson in trust
Can he trust Enrile?
Trust?
Trust is almost never part of the equation when politicians deal with each other, especially senators. I recall one of my first lessons in “trust” as a newbie reporter at the Senate.
I was in an elevator together with a young senator when his older colleague stepped in and before the latter stepped out again on a lower floor he tapped the back of the younger senator and nudged his head to indicate goodbye.
After the older senator had left, the younger senator turned to me and said in all solemnity: “One has to be careful when he taps you on the back because he’s trying to feel where to stick the knife in.”
Who he is, I can’t tell. Because the younger senator quickly added with a laugh – “that’s not for attribution.”
Categories: Congress, House of Representatives, Senate | 
Tags: House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Juan Ponce Enrile, President Noynoy Aquino, Senate Pre | 
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