EDITORIAL - Stampede to grandstand

Politicians for the most part stayed away from the mutiny in Makati. What do you know – sometimes they manage to rise to the occasion. Now they should continue to impress the nation by staying out of the investigation of the mutiny.

Already court-martial proceedings are being readied against some 300 soldiers who participated in the mutiny. In addition, criminal charges are being readied against the mutineers and their civilian supporters. A special fact-finding team headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Florentino Feliciano is also set to start its probe after the team members were sworn in by the President. How many more separate investigations do we need?

Yesterday the nation’s top security officials, who should be dealing with the continuing restiveness in the military and hunting down three escaped terrorists, spent the entire day being grilled by congressmen about the mutiny, including matters that in most countries would have been consi-dered classified. In this country, the most sensitive security information can be easily known live on TV by enemies of the state. A major concern of the lawmakers yesterday was that the five mutiny leaders, who were not allowed by top military officials to attend the congressional hearing because of the continuing coup threat, would show up today at the Senate. That could give the Senate show better TV ratings.

Some lawmakers maintain that a fact-finding team created by Malacañang, such as the one headed by Feliciano, cannot be truly independent, which is why Congress has to step in. On the other hand, in a mutiny tainted with politics, how independent can politicians be in their inquiry when they are also influenced by party affiliations?

But since the House of Representatives staged its circus yesterday, the nation will have to endure a similar one today at the Senate – all in aid of legislation, naturally. When the show is over, Congress should turn its attention to priority measures awaiting action. There are only five months left before presidential candidacies are officially proclaimed and the nation goes into full campaign mode. In this short period, what the nation needs is legislation, not grandstanding for re-election.