Akbayan to Arroyo: Issues will hound you

MANILA, Philippines - Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday vowed that issues hounding President Arroyo would continue to chase her until the “truth has surfaced and those who erred are made accountable." Hontiveros also reminded her colleagues that as representatives of the people it is their duty to endorse the complaint coming from the people seeking to exact accountability from their President. Rejecting the committee report that killed the impeachment case, Hontiveros criticized the House committee on justice for persistently “harping on their baseless argument" that the charges had been ruled upon in the dismissed impeachment proceedings. “We are not reviving the dead. The charges continue to come back precisely because the House majority has consistently violated the Rules and evaded attempts to hold GMA accountable for these charges," she said. “The reason why these charges keep coming back is that there has been no redress for all these violations, there has been no accountability from the highest official of the land, and there has been impunity," she added. She also scored the committee for killing the impeachment complaint due to lack of evidence and for declaring it “insufficient in substance." “If the House majority wants evidence, then they should have voted that the complaint is sufficient in substance, thus allowing the committee to proceed to the hearing of the case," she said. “I vote No, Mr. Speaker, kahit alam ko na matatalo na naman kami, dahil may araw din kami, dahil may araw din ang sambayanan, dahil naniniwala kami sa hustiya. The day of reckoning shall come," she said. - Aie Balagtas See, GMANews.TV