“Murderers of justice! This is what Congressmen who will vote for the dismissal of the impeachment complaint against Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) will be remembered as.", said AKBAYAN (Citizens Action Party) President Ronald Llamas today on the information that the House Committee on Justice will terminate the impeachment proceedings today.

“Killing the impeachment complaint now is injustice not only to those who filed the impeachment complaints, but ultimately to the Filipino people who have been robbed of their right to demand accountability from its President", he said.

“Those who will vote down the impeachment today will be remembered as those who allowed a President to evade accountability despite glaring substantiation of culpability.", said Llamas. The nation heard the ‘Hello,Garci’ tapes spell of massive electoral fraud. The people saw the President’s dictatorial and unconstitutional exercise of powers thru Presidential Proclamation 1017, Executive Order 464 and the Calibrated Preemptive Response. GMA’s condemnation of extra-judicial killings in the most recent State of the Nation Address (SONA) was dismissed as she herself in the same breath recognized the accomplishments Major General Jovito Palparan who is tagged as the number one perpetrator of those killings.

The AKBAYAN president urged the legislators to let the impeachment case to proceed and allow the petitioners to present each of their separate charges. “If the Committee decides to vote down the impeachment complaint without allowing the presentation of the charges, we should name this body the Committee on Injustice. Is this the kind of institution we want for our children? An institution that condones cheating, human rights violations, graft and corruption by the highest public official of the land?" added Llamas.

August 16, 2006