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THE impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona is now the hottest topic in the country. This column seeks to give basic info about this issue for the uninitiated.
Q: What is impeachment?
A: Impeachment is the constitutional process that will enable President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino 3rd to take control of the judiciary and make it follow his “tuwid na daan” or any direction that he sees fit.
Q: What offenses would subject justices to impeachment?
A: The cardinal offense is that they must be appointed by the much-maligned former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Another impeachable crime is for the justices to decide most of the time against the stand of Malacañang and its legal geniuses.
The administration considers all appointees of the former president to have been tainted by her notoriety. A purge is needed, especially those perceived to have been placed in government to give her a clean getaway.
President Aquino has shown strong aversion to criticisms. During the campaign, he refused to be questioned by journalists whom he considered as his critics. He does not listen to unsolicited advice, even from priests or former clerics. His is the side of goodness and those who don’t agree with him are evil. Justices who disagree with him and his legal stand are the main stumbling block to his “tuwid na daan” and should be eliminated as well. His men had already warned of possible impeachment to be initiated against justices of the Supreme Court who continue to disregard the Constitution by following its provisions.
Purging the Supreme Court of jurists who don’t toe the line of Malacañang will also enable Malacañang lawyers to win more cases. If a case could be likened to a basketball game, Malacañang will also have the referees in its pocket. That’s a win-win solution, but for Malacañang only. For its opponents, it’s “loss-loss.” Sorry na lang. Weather-weather lang iyan.
Q: How can impeachment be initiated?
A: Impeachment is initiated by filing a verified complaint before the House of Representatives. The complaint is then referred to the House Committee on Justice, which will prepare the Articles of Impeachment if it finds the complaint sufficient in form and substance.
Q: Are the Articles of Impeachment subject to be debated on on the floor of the House?
A: No. The debate is dispensed with if the Articles of Impeachment are endorsed by at least one-third of the members of the House. In fact, even reading of the Articles of Impeachment is dispensed with to assure the faster disposal of this hot issue. Some 188 congressmen signed the Articles of Impeachment against CJ Corona even without discussing it or reading it. The assurance of faster action on the impeachment is proportional to the speed in the assurance of congressmen that they will receive their “pork.” Now, that is what I call “sufficiency in form and substance.”
Q: Once the Articles of Impeachment are endorsed by at least one-third of the congressmen, what happens next?
A: The Articles of Impeachment are transmitted by the House to the Senate which will then constitute itself into an impeachment court, with the senators acting as judges. A finding of guilty by 16 of 23 senators on any of the eight Articles of Impeachment filed against CJ Corona would unseat him.
Q: Is impeachment a judicial process to be decided based on evidence?
A: No, impeachment is a political process so one’s political leanings, biases and prejudices will come into play. As a political process, public opinion should be paramount in deciding the case, not its merits or the evidence presented by prosecutors. Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, the best spokeswoman of the administration, has already declared that the Supreme Court must now go back to the people. So, woe to justices whose decisions do not gibe with the sentiments of majority of the people. Senators up for reelection in May 2012 must also have this in mind when they vote on the impeachment of CJ Corona.
Belated ‘frontloading’
Malacañang has announced that it will be “frontloading” the 2012 budget to speed up the implementation of its public works projects. Bravo! That’s what we have been waiting for. But, wait a minute! Aren’t we already in the year 2012? And isn’t the budget for 2012 already a law? So, what “frontloading” was Malacanang talking about?
I first heard of “frontloading” the budget in 2008 when Sen. Edgardo J. Angara was chairman of the Senate Committee Incidentally, when SEJA was chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance. The budget for that fiscal year was not expected to be approved in time so SEJA initiated the immediate bidding of infrastructure projects even before Congress could pass the budget. The only caveat was that there should be no award until after the enactment of the national budget. His proposal, which was endorsed by then Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., resulted in the faster implementation of infra projects by at least two months. Now, that is uncontested frontloading, not the one being mentioned by Mala-cañang recently.
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