Moment of truth

I am not really sure how many Filipinos can say without any reservation that the moment of truth has come, now that the impeachment process has started in the Lower House. The tumultuous start of the Justice Committee hearing last Wednesday, August 10, 2005 does not enkindle at all the spirit of conviction and hope that the long running and economically destructive political turmoil engulfing our country will soon be over. But I still believe it is too premature for us to completely give up on our congressmen. They are still capable of surprising us once in a while with a rare display of statesmanship and less partisan politics especially when the Republic of the Philippines’ future is at stake. Let’s hang in there and temporarily set aside our misgivings and biases. No other existing democratic Institution can conclusively and authoritatively resolve the current controversy within the "rule of law" except Congress if it does its job right. If we want some kind of comfort we can hold on to the latest assurance of the Speaker of the House about a "smooth running" impeachment hearings without maliciously associating its meaning with his previous statement about the rock solid support of 189 congressmen for GMA even before the impeachment process has begun. Let’s hope and pray that the impeachment hearings will run smoothly but not on a railroad.

The start of the impeachment process should at least provide us with a respite from the opposition’s piece meal presentation of witnesses before the legislative hearings in aid of legislation. One cannot really help but smell "conspiracy" in this manner of coming out with evidence especially when the subject matter of the testimonies are about events that happened more than a year ago. Sometimes the trotting out of witnesses is done in advance before the press where the statements with inferior evidentiary value are aired to a public ignorant of the intricate rules on evidence. To be sure the declarations made in these legislative hearings are inadequate source of truth because the persons making those declarations are not really "witnesses" in the strict sense of the word but merely "resource persons" called to give inputs to help the legislators enact the needed laws. So the truth of their testimonies are not tested under the crucible of intense cross examination by the adverse party like in a court trial or an impeachment proceeding. These circumstances somehow give validity to GMA’s charge of trial by publicity used by those out to assume power through means other than the electoral process. The anti-GMA forces took a big gamble by foisting on the people evidences which on their face are likely to be accepted as true in the hope of mobilizing another people power or convincing GMA just to resign voluntarily. They thought that if they succeeded, nobody would mind anymore to look into the veracity of said evidences. Obviously they lost the gamble. They now have to prove their case in the impeachment proceeding by clearer and more convincing evidence than those given at the legislative hearings which must now be put on hold.

On the other hand, lapses in judgment apparently caused by the instinct of self preservation unfortunately got the better part of the GMA forces.

If Mike Defensor had come up with his absolutely tampered tapes instead of Bunye’s tale of two tapes before GMA made the admission of a taped conversation with a Comelec Official, things would have been clearer by now. Presently however, doubts still linger on the twin issues that sparked the non-violent calls for GMA’s resignation. A missing "Garci" should first be arrested so he could shed light on the taped conversations regarding the charge of election fraud. More positive and convincing evidence disproving the jueteng payola allegations must be presented over and above mere denials and "apologetic" adverse witnesses who supposedly made a turn around. Thus, there still remain factual issues resolvable only under a due process of law like impeachment. These issues have to be judiciously resolved first by the Congress to arrive at the truth.

Let’s really hope that our congressmen may not play politics again in resolving these issues because when politics come into play, truth may never come out. Politics and truth are simply incompatible. Maybe this is the wisdom behind the Bishops’ Pastoral Statement when they recognize "the demand for a Truth Commission" ahead of the "filing of an impeachment case" among the options "not against the Gospel." Contrary to my previous opinion therefore, now I believe that a Truth Commission manned by independent minded non-politicians of proven integrity is necessary just in case Congress resolves the pending issues politically rather than judiciously.

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Note: In my last Friday’s column, August 12, 2005, the phrase "the jueteng issue is not dead" should have read, "the jueteng issue is now dead". A mistake in a single letter indeed makes a big difference.

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