The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Manila

Philippine lawmakers allied to President Gloria Arroyo on Wednesday voted to throw out the latest impeachment bid against her for alleged large-scale corruption.

Voting 42-8, members of the House of Representatives Justice Committee said the complaint was "insufficient in substance" to impeach the president, committee chair Matias Defensor said.

It was the fourth impeachment attempt against the president in the past four years. Arroyo is to end her six-year term in 2010 having also survived two coup attempts.

"The committee on justice, by virtue of the vote just taken, has declared to dismiss the complaint against President Gloria Arroyo," Defensor said, as he declared the proceedings over.

The complaint stemmed from allegations that Arroyo and her husband were directly involved in a 329-million-dollar national Internet broadband deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp. in 2006.

The deal has since been scrapped by Arroyo amid allegations of massive corruption.

The complaint also accused her of diverting millions of dollars in agricultural funds to her election campaign in 2004 and of tacitly backing hundreds of unsolved political killings blamed on the military.

Congressman Jose de Venecia, the main endorser of the nearly 400-page complaint, said the political opposition would file an appeal with the Supreme Court.

"We suffered a temporary defeat for truth and justice, but the fight will carry on," a haggard-looking de Venecia told reporters after the vote.

De Venecia, a former Arroyo ally, was ousted from his post as speaker of the House of Representatives earlier this year-analysts believe that stemmed from his son's allegations of corruption over the ZTE deal.

De Venecia's businessman son, Joey, lost the bid for the ZTE project despite offering a better package in which the government would have spent less for a the broadband network.