BY JP LOPEZ

THE countdown for the impending dismissal of the new impeachment complaint filed by Jose "Joey" de Venecia III and civil society groups against President Arroyo begins today.

Speaker Prospero Nograles will refer the 97-page complaint to the committee on rules for referral to the committee on justice where it will face the tests of form and substance.

He said the House will decide on the impeachment complaint based on its merits and will not be swayed by the endorsement of former Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr.

"The JDV endorsement has not been officially received by my office. It was only reported in the papers," he said.

Nograles has said the House will have to dispose of the complaint this month to give way to other pressing concerns, especially the passage of the P1.145 trillion proposed national budget for 2009.

Arroyo is accused of betrayal of public trust for approving the national broadband network deal with China’s ZTE Corp., saying that the deal was overpriced by at least $130M; culpable violation of the Constitution for approving the NorthRail rehabilitation project; human rights violations; graft and corruption for her administration’s involvement in various irregularities including the P728 million fertilizer scam, P2-billion swine scam; and, alleged ballot-switching in 2004.

Arroyo’s House allies dismissed the impeachment complaints of Oliver Lozano in 2005 and 2006 and last year’s complaint of lawyer Roel Pulido for lacking in substance.

Opposition congressmen are one in saying that the impeachment complaint is an exercise in futility as it has to signed by 79 out of the 236 House members which they said appears to be a long-shot. The minority bloc has only 30 members.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo said the opposition bloc will meet today to reach a final decision after De Venecia failed to rally other congressmen to support the complaint.

Rep. Roilo Golez (Ind., Parañaque), minority bloc spokesman, said this year’s impeachment is entirely different from the one in 2005 when all members of the opposition were united from the very start.

"Wala pa (united stand), hindi tulad ng 2005 solid kami. Now it’s a different ball game," said Golez, stressing the opposition should just focus on the 2010 national elections.

Golez said he has no reason to support the complaint if De Venecia cannot even secure the support of his allies in the ruling party.

Even De Venecia’s loyalists, Rep. Bienvenido Abante of Manila and Parañaque Rep. Eduardo Zialcita have distanced themselves from the impeachment.

"I am pretty sure that the overall sentiment is not to join him," Abante said.