“It will not prosper”

That was the reaction yesterday of former Akbayan Rep. Risa Hontiveros to the string of impeachment complaints filed against President Benigno Aquino III before the House of Representatives, in the implementation of the Disbursement Acceleration Program.

Hontiveros, who spoke at a seminar on the “Grassroots Participatory Budgeting Projects” of the Department of Interior and Local Government, in Talisay City, Negros Occidental, said the impeachment will never prosper because those pushing for it don’t have the numbers, and the complaints have no merit.

Those calling for the impeachment of Aquino have no concrete evidence to prove that he betrayed the public trust and violated the Constitution when he allowed the DAP’s implementation, she said.

Hontiveros also slammed members of the Makabayan bloc, who staged a walk-out before Aquino delivered his State of the Nation Address Monday, saying that what they did was an act of disrespect.

Meanwhile, Hontiveros said Aquino’s gesture of reaching out to the groups and institutions that are against him was a statesman-like and humble act.

It is rare for a man, let alone a president, to speak from his heart and get teary eyed, she said, citing what had happened at the SONA.

However, Hontiveros admitted that there were things that they wanted to hear from the President during his SONA that he failed to mention, such as the passage of the security of tenure bill and the launching of an alternative economic paradigm.*APN

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