Impeachment: an idea whose time has come

Will the Philippine version of democracy win in a walk or come out limping past 2012?     To ask this question while the senators now don the crimson robe for the impeachment trial of Renato C. Corona, the incumbent Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, sounds like stirring the pot.     There is of course, nothing very surprising about this event, especially when seen through the larger picture of political corruption and greed in the Philippines, particularly the alleged stealing of the presidency by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) from Fernando Poe Jr. (FPJ) in 2004, as well as the alleged tampering of results in the 2007 congressional election to favor her administration candidates.     But what startled me the most was GMA’s decision to demote herself as a congresswoman of the 2nd District of Pampanga rather than quietly retire from politics after her nine-year presidency ended. Based on her action, she seemed to have coveted power that she was at pains to proclaim as temporal. She also seemed not to have accepted the fact that everything has an end, that our days are numbered, and that we only survive for a certain length of time. Of course, she handily won the hometown’s decision.   And for what? Is it to perpetuate herself in power? Is it to secure her allies who will protect herself as she faces the multiple cases filed against her over corruption allegations during her tenure? I believe it is for all these reasons mentioned and many more. I think that’s the plan.   That is why the impeachment of a midnight appointee who also once served as her chief of staff and spokesperson makes sense. He is being charged of alleged partiality over cases directly affecting GMA’s vested interests.     For example, how can one not suspect partiality when Chief Justice Corona and his cohort of GMA appointees are quick to issue a TRO allowing GMA and the former First Gentleman, Jose Miguel “Mike” Arroyo, to leave the country purportedly to seek treatment abroad for her bone ailment that can be locally treated or taken care of in the best Philippine hospitals? That being so, what then is the Arroyos' compelling reason to leave, if not to escape prosecution? What then, is the SC's compelling reason to grant the TRO allowing the Arroyos to leave, if not to protect a patron?     Some are glad that the Arroyos' scheme backfired because the image of the former President in a sort of Hannibal Lecter’s restraint-half-mask convinced the DOJ that she was overdramatizing her ailment in order to avoid facing the music at home, so to speak. Now that GMA is confined at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), actually she looks better, of course, without those metal contraptions and borloloys. And some are also glad that the DOJ did not swallow the alleged “put the little girl to sleep” conspiracy hook, line and sinker.   I tell you, GMA is indeed one tough “little girl” who is very difficult to put to sleep. I really wished though that she ended up in the hearts of many Filipinos as one of the most incorruptible, respected, and popular presidents of our country. Unfortunately, that is not the case.     The reality is, the impeachment trial has been a long time coming, and perhaps, it is symbolic of an idea whose time has come.     Although we have yet to measure its effects and to specify the end it will lead us to, one thing is for sure: We have passed a point of no return for the die is cast. Whether the end is to one’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction, political opinions are divergent but two viewpoints predominate.     The pessimists predict a constitutional crisis. Under this viewpoint, the impeachment represents the undermining of our judicial institution and the retrogression of our democracy into a Hitler-like dictatorship. The optimists, on the other hand, contest this interpretation. They consider the impeachment as an important legislative step in strengthening our Constitution, and hence, our democratic system.   I am of the latter persuasion because I believe that maintaining the status quo is no longer an option for us. It no longer holds any residual capacity to direct us in the future. I subscribe to the idea that the democratic process of impeachment is one way to reject the politics of “business as usual” and to assure our people that indeed we can change and change for the better.   I hope for change to come. As the Book of Ecclesiastes taught us: To everything there is a season--a time to build, a time to destroy.   ___________________________ The author is a professor of Sociology and director of Urban Studies Program at California State University, East Bay and an urban and regional planning consultant. Email:efren.padilla@csueastbay.edu