An impending national disaster

We are not prepared for the kind of political storm that we are now going thru. Our constitution, once described as verbose, is steadily getting exposed as inadequate to anticipate the emerging multitude of socio-political problems hounding all departments of government. In no time of our history have the executive, the legislative and the judiciary been simultaneously besieged by unprecedented multifarious issues. I am afraid to say this, but to me, there is a brewing upheaval capable of destroying our nation as a result of these concerns. The writings on the wall are confirmed by Police authorities being placed in a heightened alert to avert possible challenges to our peace and order arising from civil disobedience, mass rallies and assortment of kindred activities.

The executive. The integral foundation of the executive, (and I should refer to both the president and vice president) is rocked by a swirling accusation of greed and mental imbalance. We are continually being fed with a damaging assertion of our having elected a president who is allegedly suffering from drug addiction so debilitating as to impair his important decisions. The observable incoherence in some of his verbal pronouncements is too glaring to dismiss. It is unfortunate that the president’s seeming cavalier treatment of this issue only adds weight to this hideous accusation.

I have read somewhere that greed is the fabricator of corruption. I will not disagree with that. The greedy is, almost always, corrupt. At no time in our country’s history though that both the number 1 and number 2 citizens are simultaneously alluded to as corrupt people. There is a continuing projection that our president and vice president based on specific assertions have pocketed public funds. For lack of space here, I will discuss, in another write up and in detail, these charges like the presidential directive to take PhilHealth funds into the wings of Malacañang and the vice presidential misuse of confidential money. (I will include my thoughts on the Judiciary then). I must emphasize however that the simultaneity of these corrupt occurrences indicates the gravity of our problem.

The legislature. The institution of the senate is accused of a firestorm of perceptible delay in performing a constitutional mandate amounting to misuse, if not abuse of authority. An impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio has been filed with the upper chamber of legislature. Instead of acting on these articles “forthwith” a commandment that is written in our constitution, the Senate decided to take an unallowable vacation. Indeed, that furlough violates a constitutional provision on the subject of session. Says Section 15, Article VI of our fundamental law: “The Congress shall convene once every year on the fourth Monday of July for its regular session, unless xx and shall continue to be in session for such number of days as it may determine until thirty days before the opening of its next regular session xxx”. In committing this constitutional breach, they still continue to receive their salaries and other perks! Shameless.

It is obvious to me that the leadership of House of Representatives, for unclear reasons, initially failed to gather the support of its membership. An impeachment complaint was lodged as early as December 2 last year. Two other complaints followed after. But the required number of endorsements did not materialize until two months later. When reports came that more than 200 congressmen rushed to sign the impeachment article, in February, in consideration of the release to them of AKAP, AICS and TUPAD funds, the sanctity of the constitutional process became prostituted.

Today, I feel the restiveness of our people. We are splintered by loyalties and our constitutional parameters offer no acceptable way out. I am afraid that the glaring vacuum of responsible leadership can compel our uniformed brothers to take the cue that armies of countries followed. What an impending disaster!