A congressman punched a former general and another shouted at the top of his lungs at the visitors in the gallery to stop them from jeering. Such was just another day in the Philippines. Meanwhile, those who shorted the peso and the PHISIX should be forewarned and forearmed when the market resumes on Tuesday.
Coup
Last week on November 6, 2000, Congress determined that 77 members of the house had signed the articles of impeachment. In the afternoon of Monday, November 13, in a pre-session live TV interview some congressmen suspected the ruling party would change the speakership before any discussion of the impeachment proceedings could be entertained.
At this session, the 218 members of Congress expected the first order of business to be removing Villar from his post as the speaker. They expected the ruling party to declare the speaker’s position vacant.
It may be recalled that house speaker, Villar defected from the ruling LAMP party shortly after the All Saints Day holidays, and had thus become an unknown quantity for the Estrada camp.
Villar opened the session with the normal invocation, but after the three-minute invocation, without pause, Villar proceeded to read an endorsement transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
A few congressmen came to the microphone and tried to interrupt Villar.
“Mr. Speaker,” a congressman interjected - in vain. Villar did not look up from his prepared speech and even hastened his delivery. “Mr. Speaker, point of order.” The cheering from the visitor’s gallery started.
But no matter how many times, the congressman interjected, it was futile. He was asking for the floor from a Speaker who was busy reading his transmittal speech and was deliberately ignoring him.
It was a stroke of genius. By reciting the invocation himself, then proceeding to read the endorsement, Villar did not open up the floor for any motion to remove him from office. Any interruption of his reading can only be entertained by an acknowledgement by the speaker himself that a congressman has the floor. But since he was deliberately refusing to recognize anybody, nobody had the authority to stop him.
Villar knew that if he had stopped, the motion would have been to remove him as speaker.
It was total pandemonium. Villar’s reading accelerated as the cheering from the pro-impeachment crowd attained a crescendo.
By 4pm it was all over. Villar briskly strode off the podium where he was met by joyous pro-impeachment congressmen, who hugged him as if he were the hero of some basketball game. There was jumping and raising of clenched fists.
It was a coup - of the parliamentary, not military, variety.
Congress shocked
Amidst shouts of “Erap resign,” the halls of congress reverberated with clapping and cheering, finally converging to sing the nationalist song “Ang Bayan Ko.” ('My Country').
“It was so fast,” said Congressman Ernesto Herrera, “and there is no rule of the House that requires that the articles impeachment be discussed in a plenary.”
Congressman Heherson Alvarez said the articles were “automatically being transmitted to the Senate. No resolution is needed, otherwise it would be slow the process. We reached the minimum 73 votes and he transmitted the complaint.”
An incensed congressman could not hide his contempt for the action. “Villar led the invocation. It was not even an invocation but a political speech and then he used it to read the endorsement. I condemn this because it violates the rules.”
Another congressman said, “Here is once instance when the Speaker tolerated mob rule. If there was gagging, this was the most demonstrative of all gagging."
“It was a brilliant political move,” said a professor of law. “You don’t need a vote. It was simply an administrative and ministerial matter to transmit the articles to the Senate.”
Congressman Gonzales said the act of Villar to bypass House deliberations made a “circus of the House.”
Constitutional expert Congressman Joker Arroyo answered those who called for the review of Villar’s coup. “It cannot be appealed,” Arroyo said. “To whom are they going to appeal? The House has spoken. The question is very simple. The constitution only requires a verified complaint. Having reached the required signatories, forthwith it has to be transmitted to the Senate. The speaker has simply done his duty.”
A few minutes after his dramatic monologue, Manuel Villar himself explained his action. “There is not need for Congress to vote on the article of impeachment. We have 77 signatures when only 73 are required. The opposition will question my action but it has been done and submitted to the Senate. As of the moment it is being sent to the Senate.”
Villar continues, “I will resume the session. I may have delayed the election of the 11-member prosecution panel but I have done my duty as a Speaker.”
In so doing, Villar not only delayed the election of the impeachment prosecution panel but delayed his own removal as speaker as well.
Congress was surprised by his action but Villar further elucidates: “We have done our job and we have followed the constitution. What I did, I put my speakership on the line. I’m ready.”
Senate President removed
At 4:15pm Franklin Drilon finished the delivery of his last speech as senate president and by 4:42pm the nominations for his successor closed. Nominated were Teofisto Guingona Jr, and Aquilino Pimentel Jr. both of whom where jailed by Marcos during Martial Law.
Drilon was expected to be removed when both he and Villar bolted from the ruling LAMP party at the beginning of November.
While Villar brilliantly delayed his political execution, Drilon failed to halt the changing of the guard.
In the end, Pimentel won in the open voting among the 22-member Senate. (Two of the 24 seats are currently vacant.)
The impeachment process has just been elevated to the Senate for a full hearing, and the market is expected to gain when it opens on Tuesday.
