Editorial - Deodorant

Can a Cabinet member investigate his boss? How credible will the results of the investigation be? These questions are being raised after President Estrada ordered Interior and Local Government Secretary Alfredo Lim to investigate the controversy surrounding five or six houses reportedly acquired or are being used by the President and his numerous women. "If warranted," the President said, the government will seize the properties, which have been the subjects of investigative reports in recent weeks.

So far the President has owned up only to renting a sprawling property in New Manila, Quezon City, which has been dubbed "Boracay" because white sand has been trucked in to simulate a beach around the swimming pool. The house, the President said, is owned by his former housing chief Jose Luis Yulo. The controversy over the presidential mansions has given a new dimension to the Chief Executive’s much-touted housing program, and may be the reason he has been busy distributing land titles to the poor recently.

To stop all the fuss about the mansions, President Estrada ordered Lim to conduct the investigation. As expected, Lim has announced that there will be no whitewash. But what happens if he does find anomalies in the acquisition and use of the houses? Will someone be indicted and arrested for wrongdoing? Every Cabinet member is an alter ego of the President who appointed him. Can Lim go against the President?

There is also the question of whether a Cabinet member can investigate the President when the issue at stake is among the subjects of an impeachment complaint. Although the administration coalition has the numbers in the House of Representatives, even the President must now realize that this case has to at least reach the Senate, which will decide whether he can remain in office. What if Lim’s findings don’t jibe with those of the Senate?

If the President is intent on clearing up this controversy while the impeachment case proceeds at glacial pace in Congress, he should at least find a person who owes him no favor, who does not belong to his official family, to ensure an independent and impartial investigation. Otherwise, he can’t dispel public perception that he tapped Lim merely to serve as a deodorizer in a growing stink.