With the opposition boycotting, a Philippine congressional committee voted yesterday to endorse what is considered the weakest impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and quash two others.
The vote, perceived as a victory for Arroyo in her battle against allegations that she rigged last year's election, came amid a struggle for public opinion as her detractors talked about unfair tactics -- and the prospects of another "people power" revolt like those which have ousted two presidents in the last two decades.
"This is the saddest day perhaps in Congress," said Representative Teodoro Casino. "This so brazen. The people have no other choice but to take to the streets because that is the only place we can resolve all these questions raised here."
Arroyo's allies denied they were trying to kill the case completely.
"The pro-impeachment colleagues of ours still have a chance" to press the case, said Representative Rodolfo Antonino.
Hundreds of left-wing activists clashed with riot police, who tried to disperse them outside Congress in a melee that injured at least 11 people, the protesters said. Still, there was no immediate sign of protests growing to the size of those which fueled previous "people power" revolts.
The opposition, which walked out of the House of Representatives justice committee hearings Tuesday, was still at least six votes short of the 79 needed to send the case directly to the Senate for trial.
Representative Edmund Reyes, who represented the opposition, spoke at the resumption of the hearings Wednesday, saying the anti-Arroyo lawmakers are close to getting enough signatures.
"Just six more," Reyes said in an emotional appeal, scanning the pro-Arroyo lawmakers for any takers. There were none.
He then walked out, leaving blank endorsement forms. A number of activists, repeatedly yelling, "Impeach Gloria," were dragged out of Congress by security guards.
Outside, TV footage showed police pushing back rain-soaked protesters with fiberglass shields and hitting them with wooden truncheons, including women sprawled on the road. A protester, blood oozing from his head, was escorted away by companions. Some demonstrators fought back with stones.
A statement Tuesday from pro-Arroyo lawmakers called the walkout a desperate, premeditated attempt to trigger street protests.
Popular televangelist Eddie Villanueva, a failed presidential candidate who watched the proceedings in Congress, urged the opposition to exhaust constitutional means of pressing the charges against Arroyo, but warned that people would have no recourse but to go to the streets if the charges were dismissed on a technicality.
"If they kill this -- the fight of principled lawmakers -- today or tomorrow, in front of God and history, it's justified for the Filipino people ... they could not be stopped from going to the court of the streets," Villanueva said.
At the center of the dispute are three impeachment complaints. The first is considered the weakest, and some of Arroyo's former allies claim her allies cooked it up two months ago to hamstring any impeachment efforts.
The opposition filed its own complaint and wanted all three combined because the constitution only allows one impeachment proceeding against the same official in a year.
The opposition also claims the first complaint should be quashed due to "insufficiency in form" because it lacks a minor legal requirement.
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