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Wednesday, July 13, 2005
Aportadera: Political judgment on GMA: Guilty
By Atty. Billy Aportadera
Rights and Duties
IN THE forum of public opinion, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has already been found guilty of "betrayal of public trust" on the "Hello Garci Tapes". Her "I am sorry" public admission of her conversations with a Comelec commissioner could not be considered a mitigating circumstance, as it did not touch on the core of the controversial conversations on manipulation of election results in favor of the President. This judgment is not a legal but a political judgment.
There is a difference between the legal and the political. The legal is a strict framework of law; the political is the realm of public opinion and of common sense, of moral habits and traditions.
Transgression of the law requires legal punishment; transgression of political habits or norms brings social and political punishment--but not necessarily legal.
Returning to the political, there is sufficient corroborated testimony and documentary evidence at the Congressional Inquiry on the "Hello Garci Tapes" for Filipino people to form an opinion and make a judgment about the presidency of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. She has not explained to the public the subject matters on each of the fifteen (15) phone calls to Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano.
Politics is not law. In politics, even though there is need for evidence, there is no necessity for the burden of proof that courts require. What is needed is enough common sense information for individuals to make a choice. So, in order to make their minds up, Filipinos need not wait for the Congressional Inquiries to make recommendations.
Administration propagandists are muddling the waters and mixing things that need not be mixed. They are purposely confusing processes and their different standards, passing law as politics. They are hiding from politics behind the law. Filipinos will not sentence President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the polls; they will pass a political judgment.
That is all that is required. Otherwise, if we were strictly to wait for all due legal processes to end, we would have to wait for all the criminal charges to be brought up, and for the ensuing trials to be done. Considering that the President is immune from criminal prosecution during her tenure, her criminal prosecution has to wait until the end of her term in 2010. Thus, demanding for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not a legal question; it is a political question.
Since there can be no fast rules about these events given that the written constitution does not contemplate governments reaching these depths of corruption, we need to consult constitutional traditions. In our presidential tradition, the president is responsible.
One of the central responsibilities of the President is to ensure that citizens have respect for the law and faith in the processes. That is why, according to constitutional traditions, when public officials are marred in scandal, they are expected to resign. The mere appearance of impropriety has been traditionally enough for men of honor to offer their resignations. Frankly, we are way past the appearance of impropriety: The President has violated electoral laws, to name just the most obvious one.
The tradition does not say that only those who are convicted should resign. One is a legal test, and the other is a political test. Since President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has failed the political test, the right thing to do is resign not a year from now, but now. Those who violate the law cannot be expected to uphold it. This is the most common sensical aspect on which politics rest.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has not only failed the political test, she has failed the ethical and the constitutional tests. Under the traditions of democracy, a president so wrapped up in scandal should have already resigned.
But President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is not going to resign. She is bent on defying the political judgment rendered by the Filipino people finding her politically guilty of "betrayal of public trust".
The Congressional Inquiries can continue. There is no reason to stop it. The administration congressmen in the Inquiries are in the majority and dominate them. If there are allegations and contradictions, it is up to the administration congressmen to point them out. But the Filipino people already know enough to make informed decisions.
It is said that people have the government they deserve, but even in their cold apathy, Filipinos do not deserve this bad. No one argues against due process, but the President must not be allowed to hide behind the same laws that she has corrupted.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (July 13, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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