THE House Minority group will study thoroughly whether to support an impeachment move against President Benigno Aquino III in connection with the alleged tax fraud in the sale of a property in Baguio City.

Minority Leader Danilo Suarez said that while he is willing to endorse the case, the opposition bloc will first consult legal counsels to determine if Aquino indeed committed an impeachable offense.

Danilo Lihaylihay, president of the Philippine Association of Revenue Informers, Inc., disclosed his intention to file an impeachment complaint against Aquino.

Lihaylihay has brought the issue to Suarez  “He came to my office two to three weeks ago and I agreed in crafting the complaint with lawyers but we have to make sure if it is an impeachable offense,” Suarez said

“I haven’t made a commitment to support the impeachment yet because I haven’t seen the document. But I’m willing to file it and make sure it’s crafted properly,” he added.

Lihaylihay accused Aquino of committing “massive tax fraud” in the P500-million sale of the 3.4-hectare Governor’s Park, a government property located along Session Road in Baguio City.

He also alleged that Aquino and some Cabinet members -- Executive Paquito Ochoa, Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Ramon Paje -- together with SM Investments have connived and conspired in committing massive tax evasion.

Aquino and the other officials were also accused of graft and corruption failing to remit to the government the taxes due as proceeds from the sale of the government property.

Lihaylihay also added that the sale is disadvantageous to the government considering that as of 2011, the value of the land was P1.9 billion.

However, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. was quick to defend Aquino saying that there is nothing illegal in the sale and the President was not involved in the transaction.

According to Belmonte, the auction and awarding of the property was done as early as 1992 and the payment was completed in 1997. It was only in 2011 when the documentation was completed.

The other allies of President Aquino in the House did not comment on the issue.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, one of the spokespersons of the Corona impeachment, said that while the House of Representatives is not preventing anyone from filing impeachment case against impeachable officers including the President, whether it will prosper remains to be seen.

In his complaint filed before the Office of the Ombudsman, Lihaylihay noted that the Chief Executive or President of the Republic of the Philippines cannot dispose of, saell or convey any real property owned by the government without appropriate law or without legislative approval pursuant to Section 48 Book I of the Administrative Code of 1987.

Lihaylihay appealed to the Minority group to initiate the appropriate impeachment proceedings in Congress against Aquino III for culpable violation of the Constitution, Graft and Corruption, high crimes (plunder) and betrayal of public trust.”