President Aquino yesterday brushed aside the impeachment threat of the House minority.

He said he only inherited the land deal in question, and that he had it investigated by his lawyers before he signed it.

The President said in an interview after he presided a command conference in Camp Crame that he was not yet in public office when the final installment was paid for the acquisition of the 3.4-hectare Government’s Park property on Session Road in Baguio City.

He said the authority to buy the property was issued in 1991, and the final installment was paid in 1997, a year before his election as a member of the House of Representatives representing Tarlac.

“When this reached me, I said this has gone through three presidents. Why didn’t they want to sign the final act? So I sent it back to our legal [office] to see if they could find any reason to object to this, or if there are any issues here. They didn’t see anything,” the President said.

He said that “in good faith” the lot was turned over by the government to the new owner.

“It [the process] started in 1991, paid in full by 1997, I became congressman in 1998, this document was presented to me to complete the last act. How did this become a crime on my part?” he asked.

The last act, he said, was the turnover of the title to the new owner.

Mr. Aquino said as far as he’s concerned, he would defend himself if the impeachment case against him ever prospered.

“Let him file it and I will defend myself if it goes to a real trial,” he said, referring to House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez. “But if not, I have a lot of things that I am busy with, to have to attend to his senseless allegations.”

Suarez had said the minority’s planned impeachment complaint against the President would be based on his approval of the sale to SM Investments for P500 million, when the lot was reportedly valued at P1.9 billion.