Opposition and Leftist group, led by a former vice president, on Monday lodged before the Philippine Congress a fresh impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
According to local TV network GMA News, a total of 21 complainants including representatives from militant and human rights groups initiated the 110-page case at the House of Representatives.
The impeachment bid, led by former vice president Teofisto Guingona Jr, accused Arroyo of indulging in an "orgy of corruption" as soon as she assumed power in 2001, the report said.
It said the bid has enjoyed the backing of five congressmen endorsers.
It was the second bid to impeach Arroyo since October this year following a previous impeachment complaint filed by private lawyer Roel Pulido.
Arroyo critics, however, accused Pulido of trying to protect the president by lodging a "rather weak" impeachment bid on the ground that only one impeachment case can be filed against the same impeachable official within a year, according to House rules.
Bayan Muna Teodoro Casino, an endorser for the new impeachment complaint, was quoted by GMA saying that the bid was the "strongest" thus far.
Casino admitted that the complaint will go through "rough sailing" in Congress, given the one-year ban on the filing of such bids as well as the numbers needed to impeach the President.
But he expressed optimism that the complaint would still prosper.
According to Philippine laws, an impeachment complaint against the president need the backing of one third of the 240-seat House of Representatives before it can enter the Senate where it need two-third of Senators' support to go through.
Source: Xinhua
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