PIMENTEL ASSAILS LACK OF DELICADEZA AMONG
CONGRESSMEN WHO GOT FERTILIZER FUND

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today deplored that the sense of delicadeza seems to be dead among members of the House of Representatives who refuse to inhibit themselves from the ongoing impeachment proceedings despite being recipients of the P728 million fertilizer funds the misuse of which is one of the grounds for the impeachment cases against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Delicadeza is now alien to some people associated with the President. It is a sad thing for the country to witness the refusal of some people who should inhibit themselves out of delicadeza but who do not, Pimentel said.

In other countries, hara kiri is resorted to by people who are criticized for their non-observance of the rules that apply to the performance of their duties.

Pimentel debunked the congressmens assertion that inhibition from the impeachment proceedings will be tantamount to an admission of guilt. But he said if they insist on taking part in the process, the net effect of this is to correspondingly reduce its value and credibility.

The congressmen concerned do not seem to realize that inhibiting themselves from participating in the hearings of the impeachment complaint does not imply guilt. If indeed some of them received monies from the fertilizer fund, how can they in conscience participate in the proposed impeachment of the President where one of the counts precisely has to do with the misuse of the fertilizer funds? he said.

Pimentel added that the lawmakers who received their share of the fertilizer fund as part of vote-getting gimmicks of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in the 2004 elections, should be ashamed of themselves for insisting on an act that would have the effect of impairing the integrity of the impeachment process.

It is difficult to imagine how these people who benefited from the misuse of the fertilizer fund could now sit in judgment of the executive officials who are being accused of misusing the fund. It stretches the credulity of the people to assume that these gentlemen and women in the House of Representatives could render a fair verdict on an issue in which they were intimately involved, he said.