Impeachment
In the past three attempts to impeach the President, the
Justice Committee of the House has always ruled that the complaints complied
with form but not of substance. Then Speaker Jose V. de Venecia stopped the
question from being taken in plenary.
Form is easy. President Arroyo made substance even easier. By
admitting she had prior knowledge of the flaws of the ZTE deal and yet she
witnessed the signing of the contract in China, she practically incriminated
herself.
It is important to consider that the deal was not between the
governments of China and the Philippines. It was between the Philippine
government and a private company - ZTE - in China. How will the House of
Representatives save the President from impeachment when the respondent provides
the evidence of her own guilt.
Rather hard to do. But then not even the Opposition is
capitalizing on it. They are so busy presenting witnesses who will prove fraud
in the ZTE-national broad band deal.
The search for the truth must stop. The President said she
knows the truth.
She once said that the search for truth must be accompanied
by justice. She provided both.
How does one get out from a bind like that? A crime has been
committed and admitted but nobody wants to sue.
The funniest part is the President ordered an investigation,
said none of her family is involved but admitted she knew the contract is
flawed.
Opportunity for JDV
Former Speaker Jose V. de Venecia has been shooting his mouth
off since he was ousted as speaker at the behest of Malacañang.
He might also remind himself that it was he, with largesse
coming from the Palace, who prevented the three impeachment attempts from
prospering.
Since he and the President have parted ways and De Venecia
has been detailing the crimes of the woman who installed him as Speaker, a
golden opportunity suddenly has come up to even up the score with the Chief
Executive.
The President admitted that she knew of the flaws - meaning
anomalies - of the ZTE contract even before she went to China to witness the
signing of the contract.
De Venecia does not have to look for evidence. The President
can be impeached by her own admission of a heinous crime.
Instead of ranting daily at the Chief Executive, JDV should
rally his peers in the House to get the 80 signatures to impeach the President.
That is more sure and less messy that a rally where the
police can use brute force. But then, does JDV still have influence among his
peers? Maybe he has. His problem is how to neutralize the money that Malacañang
will come up with to stop JDV from getting the 80 votes.
Nevertheless, he will be doing a heroic act by proposing
impeachment, whether he succeeds or not. Failure means his peers are in the
pockets of Malacañang. And so was he until he was ousted.
Mikey’s rally
There is something weird in the rally called by presidential
son Rep. Mikey Arroyo at the Liwasang Bonifacio last Monday.
Without a doubt it was called even probably financed, by his
rich and powerful friends who had a sumptuous lunch at his restaurant before
proceeding to the assembly place.
The rally called by Rep. Arroyo is at cross purposes with
that the rallies of the opponents of his mother President Arroyo.
The protests, largely made popular by what is believed to be
the truth told by Jun Lozada, may be described as a peaceable assembly of the
people to seek redress from their government.
On the other hand, the rally of the President’s son, was
purely intended to save the administration, rotten to the core, that people are
complaining about.
Put simply, the rally of Rep. Arroyo was mounted to save his
mother from being forced out of office. It was not, far from it in fact,
intended to help the country remove the corrupt regime of his mother.
In a manner of speaking the two rallies prove the truth of
what American writer Mark Twain (real name: Samuel O. Clemens) once said: "East
is East, West is West, the twain shall never meet."
The rally of the poor showed the common desire to force
President Arroyo to step down.
The one called by her son was to keep her in office. Pick
your choice.
Will Erap’s pardon be
recalled?
Political circles are abuzz with rumors that the geniuses in
Malacañang are studying what benefit the President can get if she recalls the
pardon she granted to ousted President Joseph Estrada.
Quite a few say Malacañang can keep him in jail and stop him
from going around the country thanking the people for the unflinching support
that does not please President Arroyo.
The recall of the pardon may be necessary because it did not
improve the acceptance rating of President Arroyo, although that was the hope.
But then, there might even be bigger trouble, specially for a
Cabinet member. I heard that Joseph Estrada’s son, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, is
prepared to denounce a payment of P600 million for his father’s freedom. I would
not suspect that money went to Malacañang. What might be certain is that the
cabinet official might have been allowed to collect it in exchange for the
pardon.
In other words, he negotiated the pardon for money with the
blessings of the President.
Missing ingredients
I thought that the ingredients to force President Arroyo out
of office were staring us in our faces.
No, says a sociologist who claims to know the mind of the
Filipino. He admitted however, that the Malacañang is immensely helping the
President to the brink of collapse.
Yet there are at least two ingredients not yet thrown into
the basket of popular revolt.
People want to see the President or powerful Malacañang
people covering up corruption and heinous crimes.
Another is more show of arrogance.
The President did not cover up the ZTE deal. She admitted she
knew the flaws before she went to China, at a time when her husband was
seriously ill. What did she try to cover up with that trip?
Maybe to point up the lie that no member of her family is
involved in the bribes and overprice.
In which case, she did not have to make the trip and keep
herself the secret that the deal is flawed. If the did not witness the signing,
she could always say she did not know about it.
Now she says she knew about it and yet witnessed the signing.
This tells a lot.
