Another farce at the Filipino's expense

Short of initiating the process of an impeachment, the House of Representatives cannot investigate a president. And outside hearing an impeachment complaint, the Senate similarly does not have the authority to probe the chief executive.

The independence of the co-equal branches of government are very clearly defined in our Constitution and is a long-held tradition in democratic systems. Anybody who is a part of this system submits to such a system.

Yet, right now, the House of Representatives, through at least five of its committees, is doing precisely that, investigating the president, in effect violating the Constitution and making a travesty of long-held democratic principles.

The House of Representatives, or more precisely some congressmen, since Congress is an institution that is immutable, are investigating the president through a thinly veiled process called an inquiry "in aid of legislation."

An inquiry in aid of legislation is a very broad power that has been misappropriated and misused by congressmen. Even if a check of the records is done right now, there is almost no single piece of legislation that has ever been born out of all such inquiries made.

If the truth be told, an inquiry in aid of legislation, while presumably hatched long ago with some lofty and noble purpose in mind, serves no other purpose than to promote the personal interests of the legislators who take part in them.

Such an inquiry, by necessity, always draws media attention. That means instant publicity for politicians who need to project themselves always to their constituencies. More importantly, such an inquiry can be a potent tool to destroy enemies.

The current inquiry, "in aid of legislation," is about the so-called "Hello Garci" tapes, or wiretapped conversations purportedly of President Arroyo and Comelec commissioner Virgilio Garcillano discussing electoral fraud in the May 2004 elections.

But if you have been following the hearings through live television coverages, the first thing you notice is that the line of questioning by the congressmen involved cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be passed off as "in aid of legislation."

Indeed, it may even be safe to presume that not one, no single congressman involved in the current inquiry "in aid of legislation" has the vaguest idea of what kind of legislation can be squeezed out of this exercise.

The five House committees simply launched the inquiry without so much as trying to determine first what they hoped to achieve. To them, all that was necessary was the availability of the cover. And so off they went, fishing, in aid of legislation.

To be sure, President Arroyo is in a terrible bind. Her leadership has been seriously undermined because of the supposed tapes. And while we do not subscribe to what is being pandered that she cheated her way to victory, we believe she should rise to the challenge and face it.

The president may enjoy immunity from suit for a reason, which is to free her from nuisance charges that can impede the performance of her duties. But we do not believe that gives her reason to gloss over any accusation, no matter how improbable, malicious or far-fetched.

As president, she should be able to take any and all comers, in whatever forum they choose to challenge her. Arroyo should be able to reduce everything to her word against theirs. That much the people have come to expect of their leader.

As to the congressmen involved in this latest travesty of their own mandate, they should stop already. They should be ashamed of the taxpayers who pay not only their salaries but also their excesses.

This inquiry "in aid of legislation" is nothing but a farce meant to promote selfish interests. The country cannot be enlightened by such polluted air. The lives of Filipinos cannot be enriched by the greed of a few. Shame on you for calling yourselves our representatives.