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Thursday, September 01, 2005
Mongaya: Goodbye impeachment
By Anol Mongaya
Opposition congressmen made a last ditch effort to save their amended impeachment complaint during the House committee on justice hearing the other afternoon. But their lack of number-–they could not muster the needed 79 signatures-–had spelled doom for their efforts. Their only recourse was a walkout that attempted to mimic the dramatic Senate walkout that triggered Edsa 2.
Unfortunately for the congressmen, what the walkout only stirred were the papers they childishly threw in the air and not the sympathy of the spontaneous millions of people that toppled governments twice in the past.
The opposition should have focused on getting the 79 signatures so they could immediately proceed to the Senate for the impeachment trial. They failed miserably.
Their problem is simply the lack of an alternative to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. For the majority, without PGMA, there is only chaos. Today’s united opposition will fragment and turn on each other if they succeed in ousting the President.
Worse, the childish behavior of the opposition congressmen did not sit well with the middle class that they are wooing. They should have acted in a more honorable manner.
In the Erap impeachment walkout, the then opposition senators carried themselves in a dignified manner. Some were teary-eyed as they embraced each other. In contrast, a pro-Erap senator happily cheered and danced as the anti-Erap camp walked out of the Senate hall.
This development can be seen as a victory for President Arroyo with pro-administration congressmen expected to indefinitely sit on the weak impeachment complaint filed earlier by lawyer Oliver Lozano. We can now say goodbye to the impeachment move this year.
What then are the options of the united opposition?
I think they should accept political reality. President Arroyo has survived the worst assault on her presidency. With the country facing an economic crisis, perhaps it would be best if the opposition accepts the truce she offered so we can meet the economic hurdles as one.
Meanwhile, let’s see how poor Filipinos will cope with the simultaneous increase in prices of oil, water, fare, and common grocery goods. In the past, this volatile situation easily transforms into anger in the streets. This time, even the “Hello Garci” political crisis has failed to ignite a conflagration. The opposition could not muster the needed millions of people to topple the Arroyo administration in another Edsa rising.
***
According to the Department of Justice, mere possession of a right-hand-drive vehicle does not mean a person is guilty of smuggling. This ruling only reiterates what has been all the while clear to customs watchers but was muddled in the eyes of the public by a police unit that Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña accused of extortion.
(superbalita@sunstar.com.ph or anol.blogs.friendster.com/anols_blog)
(September 1, 2005 issue)
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