BY PRINCE GOLEZ
Manila Reporter
MANILA – Former Iloilo congressman Augusto Syjuco Jr. filed an impeachment complaint against President Beningo Aquino III.
He accused the President of bribery, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.
Twenty-one individuals who claimed to be members of the organization “Pagbabago Na Walang Gulo, So Help Us God, Social Democrats” joined in Syjuco’s nine-page complaint.
The Lower House’s Record Management Service Office received the complaint yesterday because Congress was still in recess. Sessions resume on July 28 yet.
“When a soldier, a doctor or government employee commits a dishonest act, he or she is removed from the service,” Syjuco said.
The President, he said, violated the Constitution when he allowed the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP).
He rewarded senators who served as justices after the impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona using DAP funds, Syjuco alleged.
Senators who received DAP funds after the Corona impeachment also have liability for bribery, he added.
Aquino violated the Constitution when he transferred funds from various sources to the DAP “without the knowledge and consent of Congress,” Syjuco said.
Last week, lawyer Oliver Lozano sought the endorsement of party-list Kabataan for his impeachment complaint against Aquino.
Kabataan party-list’s Rep. Terry Riddon, however, said they won’t endorse Lozano’s complaint because they will file a separate impeachment complaint.
Syjuco’s complaint, on one hand, has been endorsed by Bayan Muna’s Rep. Neri Colmenares.
Malacañang is not worried about Syjuco’s complaint.
“He has been filing cases left and right. So it’s just one of his actions. It will depend on how the House of Representatives will take it,” said Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda./PN
