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Saturday, October 01, 2005
Editorial: Coming to a head
AS had been reiterated in this corner for sometime the impeachment crisis has been one of who gets to force the issue first. And this came to a head Friday when the opposition lawmakers walked out of the halls of Congress.
Amid the cries of dejected congressmen and the silent departure of Fernando Poe Jr.'s widow Susan Roces the House justice committee reiterated that the walkout was a "drama" staged by the opposition to stave off the final voting for the impeachment complaint.
Not so, says the opposition who accused the administration lawmakers of following the dictates of Malacañang by simply ignoring the amended impeachment complaint and deciding to vote the legally weak Oliver Lozano complaint which is then doomed to failure.
Maguindanao Representative and House Justice committee chairman Simeon Datumanong simply ignored requests by Surigao Representative Robert Ace Barbers to have former Social Welfare and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman testify about the Palace attempt to mangle the impeachment proceedings with the Lozano complaint.
Admittedly though the walkout serves to buy time for the opposition camp to get the signatures necessary to fill in their impeachment complaint. The walkout is in effect yet another form of pressure on Congress to accept the amended complaint.
Proof of this is the latest report that these opposition lawmakers won't show up in Congress unless the amended complaint is tackled. It has certainly become a contest of wills and a war for the hearts and minds of the public.
Once they get those numbers though, they're home free because the opposition controlled Senate would ensure its passage. And once the proceedings get into high gear expect a lot of lawmakers to switch loyalties.
There are people who want to see this impeachment crisis end with finality but not the way Palace lawmakers want it to end; with a hastily half-baked investigation that sought no other course but to exonerate a President whose credibility has sunk so low that she is a leader in name only and had been labeled a Malacañang "squatter" for her dubious victory over a recently departed and beloved movie icon turned presidential candidate.
However, most of the apolitical public are certainly turned off and had become impatient not only with the perceived histrionics of opposition lawmakers--really, we can't seem to resolve one impeachment proceeding in Congress without a walkout--but the political maneuvering of Palace allies.
Simply put, this government especially Congress cannot hold an impeachment trial to ferret out the truth of allegations raised against a President because it doesn't have the moral courage and capacity to do so.
To settle this once and for all means having the President stand trial and avail of every legal opportunity to issue her response to every charge hurled at her. Anything else is a mere side issue best left for debate among politicians.
Skirting this would not only mean placing a permanent question mark on her legitimacy as the country's leader but destroying whatever shred of faith the Filipinos have in their government and in this country's frail democracy which Arroyo supposedly swore to protect when she took that oath of office last year.
(October 1, 2005 issue)
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