EDITORIAL - Signpost on the “daang matuwid”

Rep. Walden Bello of the partylist Akbayan hit it right on the nail. There is no dearth of reasons for anyone to try and impeach the president, any president. In his example, even the love life of the president now sitting, or the lack of it, can be grounds for any Tom, Dick and Harry to file for impeachment.

Bello cannot be wrong on this one. As a militant, he is quick to take to the streets in protest. Militants are so predisposed to protest that even one protest can carry a dozen other protests. If one placard protests low wages, the placard behind it protests the return of the Americans.

They protest because they never seem satisfied with anything. They tend to always see something wrong in the world. They do not seem happy with what they have. They never seem happy with life as it is. That is why there has never been a president or government they have not protested against.

If Bello is seen as supporting President Aquino on the issue of impeachment, it is only because he does not like the group seeking Aquino's impeachment -- fellow militants with whom his own group just cannot see eye to eye with.

But while Bello is correct that anyone can file an impeachment complaint against the president for any reason at all, he should not have stopped there. He should have gone on to say that it is the right of everyone to do so.

Just as the president, or anyone for that matter, has every right to seek reconsideration from the court for any decision they may have rendered, so has everyone the right to file an impeachment complaint against the president, for whatever reason -- be it for smoking or giving it up.

Besides, it is not the filing of an impeachment complaint that accomplishes the goal of seeking redress of a grievance. Being a political exercise, it is not a matter of law or morals but a matter of numbers, a fact that has so emboldened this president to proclaim he will not interfere in the process.

Nevertheless, it is good that an impeachment complaint has been filed, regardless of how lacking in reason or merit Bello might regard the action -- a lack precipitated by nothing else than the war for spoils that has rocked the left. At least Aquino will now have that signpost along his "daang matuwid."