Rep. Joel Villanueva, together with the members of Minority bloc led by Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, left the session hall after registering his "no" vote to dismiss the impeachment complaint on December 2, 2008. The following is his written explanation of vote against Committee Report 1515. 

Four years ago, serious allegations have been thrown against Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo questioning her integrity, moral fitness, legitimacy and competence as President of the Philippines. 

It started with her alleged involvement in electoral fraud in the 2004 elections. And not only did she cheat and lie, according to the complainants, but she even personally orchestrated acts of kidnapping, extortion and bribery to propagate herself in power. These were serious allegations so the people asked for her explanation, but she refused to give any and instead used her political stranglehold of the majority of this House to suppress the truth, in total disregard of justice and righteousness. So in the end, not a single answer was given; not a single issue of the 2005 Impeachment Complaint was ever resolved.

The year that followed saw the same issues being thrown against her. In addition, new issues like her systematic curtailment of legislative powers and other constitutionally-guaranteed rights like freedom to expression and information in culpable violation of the constitution were also raised. She was also made to explain her convenient acquiescence, if not direct consent, to the extrajudicial killings of human rights activists who were critical of her administration. She was also asked to explain her family’s undisclosed wealth. But again, instead of giving the Filipino people answers and explanations, the “politics” and “economics” of numbers were again employed to suppress the truth at the expense of justice and righteousness.  

The succeeding years’ complaints, including this impeachment complaint now before us, saw more issues crop up like the Fertilizer Scam, the Northrail Scam, the PIATCO Scam, the Diwalwal Scam and the ZTE Scam. The issues kept piling up but no answer or explanation seems forthcoming.  

Is Mrs. Arroyo and her allies afraid of the truth? Do the allies of Mrs, Arroyo not realize that by slaying the impeachment process on its track even before Mrs. Arroyo can adequately explain her side and answer all the hanging questions, they are condemning her to the brutal and bitter judgment of history? Do they not realize that by suppressing this impeachment process they are in fact depriving the people and even Mrs. Arroyo of their right to the truth, justice and righteousness? 

The majority of this House has already killed three Impeachment Complaints – the 2005, 2006 and 2007 complaints. If this Impeachment Complaint will be subject to the same fate then I challenge my colleagues to call a spade a spade. Do not hide behind the alleged insufficiency in substance of this Impeachment Complaint, as it is not insufficient. This Impeachment Complaint will be sacrificed because the “politics” and “economics” of numbers again prevailed despite the substance of the truth glaring us in the face.      

I FIND THE IMPEACHMENT COMPLAINT SUFFICIENT IN BOTH FORM AND SUBSTANCE. I THUS VOTE AGAINST COMMITTEE REPORT NO. 1551.