A never-ending tit for tat

The die is cast, so to speak. That is as far as President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III is concerned in leading his allies in the 15th Congress in the campaign to oust Renato Corona as chief justice of the Supreme Court (SC). Through impeachment process, President Aquino literally pushed the envelope that secured more than the required one third votes of the House of Representatives to fast track the ouster of Corona.

Of the total of 284 House members, the administration whip masters at the House secured last Monday night 188 signatures of congressmen to kick off the Corona ouster move. As provided for in our country’s 1987 Constitution, it was more than enough to automatically endorse the impeachment articles to the Senate.

Thus, this skips the whole proceedings from going through the regular process of the impeach complaint filed first before the House committee on justice. Instead, a 70-page impeach complaint was submitted for signing by House members during the all-party caucus called by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. before the regular session started last Monday.

A day after the overwhelming 188 votes at the House that seemed not enough for him, P-Noy continued with his public harangues on the Chief Justice when he spoke yesterday before his House allies in a thank-you gathering at the EDSA Shangri-La in Mandaluyong City.

In his speech, Aquino accused Corona anew of remaining loyal to former President and now Pampanga Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who appointed him to the SC. As such, P-Noy claimed Corona blocked several moves of his administration to reform the government to fulfill his promise to the people to hold accountable those who have committed corruption and abuses in office during the past administration.

P-Noy deplored again the SC ruling that nullified his first Executive Order (EO) that created the Truth Commission to probe alleged misdeeds of ex-President Arroyo. P-Noy charged Corona for the alleged attempt of the SC to block the administration’s move to impeach then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, another appointee of Arroyo as he recited the rest of the impeachment articles against the chief justice.

So it was a done deal already when the plenary was convened last Monday night to put to formal vote the transmission to the Senate of the impeachment articles against Corona. House minority leader Edcel Lagman and Rep. Orlando Fua (Lakas) tried but failed to stop what they bewailed was the intended railroading of the impeach complaint before their body.

Lagman and Fua questioned the speed and haste by which the House secretary-general was able “to verify and swear under oath” each of the 188 signatories to the impeach complaint. In fact, Lagman complained, they were not able to read the impeach complaint but were told during the all-party caucus all they needed to do was sign.

Fua made a motion at the floor to compel a full reading of the 70-page impeach complaint before they pass it. In this way, the lawmaker from Siquijor cited, they could explain to their respective constituents the whys and wherefores of each of the eight-point articles of impeachment against the chief justice.

House majority leader Neptali Gonzales Jr., however, brushed aside Fua’s motion as “out of order.” To cut short the debate, Gonzales said Fua and those who did not sign the Corona impeach were not considered complainants anyway. Hence, Gonzales, stressed, there is no need for them to read it. The House majority leader went to great lengths to put on record that the impeach complaint was not railroaded contrary to claims by the veteran House opposition leaders.  

Now, here comes Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco, a neophyte lawmaker who also attended the all-party caucus that day. On a matter of privilege, Tiangco surprised his House elders when he stood up yesterday at the floor to echo the same complaint by his more senior colleagues. Invoking the need to preserve the Integrity and independence of the House, Tiangco declared he cannot in conscience accept the kind of “blind voting” that accompanied the impeach complaint against the head of a coequal branch of government.

Tiangco bewailed the basis of impeach move against Corona just because he was an alleged Arroyo “midnight” appointee. “I don’t want to do battle with the most popular President,” Tiangco swore. But Tiangco stressed he could not stomach the manner by which the impeach complaint against Corona was rammed through the House by administration allies at the behest of the Palace.

As far as he could see it, this is not the battle between the most popular leadership of President Aquino and ex-President Arroyo, the most unpopular leader of the country during her term, and perhaps, up to now. “I don’t know if this is politically correct but I am sure I can sleep well tonight because my conscience is clear…I declare myself now as independent member of the House,” Tiangco told his erstwhile House majority colleagues.

To this end, Tiangco resigned as chairman of the House committee on Metro Manila development. As a three-term Mayor of Navotas, Tiangco got to chair this committee even if he is just a newcomer at the House. Tiangco belongs to the Partido ng Masang Pilipino (PMP) of former President Joseph Estrada. The PMP is part of the ruling majority led by President Aquino’s Liberal Party (LP). So Tiangco could not be accused of being a pro-Arroyo man.

Obviously, there is no turning back for P-Noy’s single-minded campaign to remove Corona as the identified “barrier” to his administration’s fight against corruption. This, he said, is in line with his presidential campaign slogan to fight corruption as the way out of widespread poverty in the country.

P-Noy admitted his level frustration with Corona went overboard when the SC issued a temporary restraining order last month against the watch list order issued by the Department of Justice against Mrs. Arroyo, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Now that the Senate is set today to convene formally the impeach trial on Corona, P-Noy should let the impeachment proceedings go through without anymore of his blah-blah against the SC. Sadly for our people and nation, we will not see the end of the tit-for-tat battle when the telenovela starts at the Senate next month.