For a time, and that must be quite a time, the conjecture was, Philippine politics was on or under John Stuart Mills natural operative facts. It was the British thinker’s mind that representative government, or democracy,if you will, ran its engine on a much lower intellectual fuel.
Whatever or however, no harm, no foul. Politics has chugged along , hopefully or helplessly ,on its rickety railway as politicians of pedigreed color came on board , and brought on what is now known as political dynasty. The more, the merrier—and richer
It’s been a continuing puzzle. Ask the mayor of Baguio City. How do you explain that only 15 contractors have cornered billions worth of anti-flood projects nationwide that has turned most areas into a deluge, Of course there was climate change, Of course/ historical corruption was the culprit.
There were few brave eggheads then and now.
Until a Supreme Court justice was brave enough to see the need for an inflection point. Not necessarily like the need for a constitutional convention as one lawmaker belated chimed in into the cacophony of voices on the dying but not yet dead impeachment process of a vice president.
In the new controversy, what riles up the lawmakers, legal luminaries and constitutional experts is that the daring ponente seems to bite off more than it could chew, meaning chaos. Certainly, he chewed out most lawmakers in the House, more than a third, of being out of whack.
First off, the impeachment process was fasttracked – or railroaded—at the expense of due process otherwise known as fair play. The veep, who appears to be operating under radar or outside the GPS, wasn’t beeped about the lawmakers’ beef.
It adds insult to injury. Her father was shanghaied to the Hague on suspicion, not yet charges, of crime against humanity by the International Criminal Court, no thanks to the monstrous drug war that claimed some 6,000 to 30,000 lives. The ex-president is hanging in there—skin and bones, the rumors say, while his foreign lawyers can’t agree how to get him out of the ICC via an interim release.
Second off, the creative ponente wants the new rules to govern the impeachment case to make it fair to the vice president. There are seven new rules which many in and out the House say it’s judicial legislation. The SC can’t do that. ThHouse alone has the core competency to do the job. Besides, assuming it can legislate, the SC must honor the operative fact, meaning certain rules that still exist, before implementing new rules retroactively. The operative word sho,uld be prospectively
The bullying and high and mighty blunder – how the mighty have fallen, cried one in antiquity—was an error in fact, according to the House lawmakers, legal experts and constitutional experts. Against such factual error, flagrant and egregious, the human must yield to the divine. No way but for the SC to reverse itself. The voting may be unanimous and therefore the mistake was unanimous, the SC must acknowledge its fallibility even if, or because, its word is final.
Will the ponente eat humble pie? The country needs something to get out of the rut it’s in. the Senate, for all of its 19-1-4 pro-Duterte structure may conceivably dig in, considering the political stakes, the nation still hopes against hope, which is desperation. St. Paul echoed this in his Corinthian epistle how his troubles have impacted him that he despaired of life itself.
The fight to keep the impeachment alive is still kicking, there is hope that even if it’s archived, there;s a chance that it can be put back to life again, despite the Senate state of mind. Besides, no good lawyer runs away from evidence, and the House prosecution panel assures that the Vice President may have to rethink its 2028 political plan in the face of incontrovertible evidence
Obviously, the creative ponente has stirred debate on the impeachment case versus the vice president. For one thing ,it looks like Mills theory on intellectual handicap in dems ocracy has taken the backseat. Everyone speaks like a lawyer or wants to. Obviously, there has been a controversy, albeit legal. As one writer puts, controversy is just a euphemism for intelligent and interesting,
Of course, the public debate has eclipsed, whether on mainstream media or in social media, the issues on P20 rice price and inflation. Fortunately or unfortunately, the President’s polls have gone up versus her president’s inertia at the survey.
Within an important issue, according to British author George Orwel, there are always aspects that no one wishes to discuss. In his arrival statement from India, the President said as much or not as much, that the SC hasn’t touched on the merit of the impeachment case. Translation: it’s alive even if his senator=senator has voted to keep it dead , out of hubris or polemic.
. Will the so-called gods of Padre Faura confirm that humility is a virtue that is sorely lacking among our leaders, regardless of the partisanship or patrons? The American economist Thomas Sowell has said that most cases of mistaken identity are among intellectuals who forget that they are not gods.
To err is human says it all why, for all its good intention and rocket science intellect, the SC controversial decision on the vice president’s impeachment issue was simply a factual error. The divine is waiting in the wings.
