Staring in the eye of a constitutional crisis

Finally, the Supreme Court SC) has upped the ante vs the Senate Impeachment court when yesterday afternoon, the SC in a vote of 8-5 issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing the (Senate) Impeachment Court from implementing a subpoena compelling the Philippine Savings Bank (PSB) to send a representative and submit documents on Chief Justice Renato Corona’s foreign currency accounts. We are now staring at the eyes of a constitutional crisis that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) talked about in Cebu City a couple of weeks ago. Will anyone blink?

How this issue will be resolved we will find out soon enough. Meanwhile the rallies in front of the Supreme Court have already began and if you looked at the television footages from the various TV networks, it seems that the numbers supporting CJ Corona have grown into the thousands, while those supporting his impeachment like the Black and White Movement led by Leah Navarro are not that many. 

So are we in what is called a “Mexican Standoff?” whereby it pits the Executive Branch with the Legislative Branch to fight the Judiciary? The 26th anniversary of the EDSA revolt is just around the corner, so will we see a repeat of history again? Lest we have already forgotten that famous quote by Edmund Burke, “Those who forget their history is doomed to repeat them.”

This case reminds us of the ill-fated Estrada Impeachment trial which ended abruptly on the issue of whether or not that mysterious envelop should be opened or not, which became part of Philippine political history which we call EDSA Dos. The question at hand is whether or not the Impeachment Court can or should compel PSBank President Pascual Garcia III to produce the dollar accounts of CJ Corona, which the SC has now issued a TRO.

If the Impeachment Court still has some modicum of respect for the separation of the co-equal branches of the government, then they must have the humility to abide by this TRO. If not… then we will enter the realm of the Constitutional crisis, which will bring this nation into the brink of the unknown. At this point, I urge all sides too keep their cool and for the Filipino people to pray harder that God will intervene lest this nation burns into ashes.

Meanwhile to add fuel to this highly combustible situation, Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas threatened to file impeachment proceedings against the eight Justices who issued that TRO. Wow! What an arrogant response to a situation that requires cooler heads. At this point, we wait with bated breath that we will see politicians become statesmen. Meanwhile the opportunists are getting ready to take advantage of any deteriorating situation. Abangan!

* * *

The Philippine Institute of Seismology and Volcanology (Phivolcs-7) insists that they did not make a mistake in issuing a tsunami alert level 2 two and a half hours after the 11:49 a.m. 6.9 earthquake that devastated Negros Oriental last Monday, Feb. 6. So what’s new under the Aquino regime that promised reforms in the government?

At the height of storm “Ondoy” PAGASA was blamed for not giving the proper warning, but the reality is they did not learn from the typhoon that devastated Taiwan just a month earlier. PAGASA also washed their hands when storm “Sendong” devastated the Northern Mindanao cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, saying that they issued the proper warnings. Though in truth, they never told anyone that “Sendong” wasn’t a strong storm, but it brought along huge water with it. In the end, it wasn’t PAGASA’s fault, but the local government unit for allowing a housing development where the river would wash out.

But there was widespread panic in Cebu City two and a half hours after the 6.9 earthquake shook Negros and Cebu. The police have finally arrested a barangay councilman (another fellow is a radio blocktimer) who was on his motorcycle in downtown Cebu shouting out that the water was already in Colon St. Police are thinking of filing charges against these two.

However the panicked mass of people began their exodus around 2:30 PM, which was about the same time that I got that communiqué from Malacañang Palace that said that Phivolcs had issue a tsunami alert level 2. While these two may be responsible for causing panic in the downtown district of Cebu, almost simultaneously that that precise hour, people in the uptown areas of Cebu City near JY Square trooped to the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel, while those in the Pardo District went up the Alta Vista Golf course.

Filing charges against those two people will not help anyone. What we need to do is to learn from this embarrassing experience… that for instance the radio or TV broadcaster can immediately cancel their regular programs to address the situation in order to tell the people the real score and if possible show them TV footages that there is really is tsunami under way.

* * *

For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through http://www.philstar.com.