The impeachment complaint filed by a lawyer against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was forwarded last night to the House Justice Committee, Rep. Jose Carlos Lacson (Neg. Occ., 3rd District) said.

The complaint filed by lawyer Roberto Rafael Pulido was endorsed by Rep. Edgar San Luis to the House Committee on Justice, Lacson said.

The Committee on Justice has 60 session days to determine whether the complaint is sufficient in form and substance. The referral to the justice committee starts the one-year prohibition on the filing of another impeachment complaint against Arroyo.

Pulido, who represented alleged military coup plotters in a trial, also ran for a House of Representatives seat against an Arroyo ally in a Manila district in 2004, and lost.

His complaint alleges Arroyo betrayed public trust after her government approved a $330 million contract for China's ZTE Corp to develop a broadband network for the Philippine government amid allegations of bribes, kickbacks and over-pricing. Election commission chief Benjamin Abalos resigned earlier this month after admitting he got "golf trips" from ZTE Corp, while denying he received the services of prostitutes.

Arroyo, who survived impeachment attempts in 2005 and 2006 over claims she cheated to win the 2004 presidential election, later cancelled the contract during a visit to Beijing.

Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, reacting to the impeachment complaint, said the Arroyo government was not worried. "Nothing will come out of it. They (opposition) do not have the votes," Puno said. Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye said, "The impeachment complaint is a distraction that the President can and will ignore."

He said the President "has a nation to govern, and there are other more important matters which she has to attend to."*

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