Catharsis

From ancient Greek tragedies is the word called catharsis.

It means purgation, cleansing or “purification.” Wikipedia notes that the Greek philosopher Aristotle introduced the term in his work Poetics to explain how tragedy functions.

I am reminded of catharsis following my column last Tuesday on “Toxic Sara.” In my 56 years of professional journalism (that makes me arguably the most senior journalist in Manila), I have never seen a more toxic politician than Sara.

Vice President Sara Duterte has divided the nation. She thinks – and a huge chunk of the electorate (up to 40 percent) thinks – she is the next president, sure to succeed President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. after the May 2028 presidential elections.

Because she thinks she is the next president, she is so full of herself. Bitchy, arrogant, insolent, invested with a colossal sense of impunity. Her shenanigans, sins and corruption will easily scare the living daylights out of a Donald Trump.

In less than two years as vice president and secretary of the Department of Education, she pocketed P612.5 million of our tax money, insisting she is entitled to the money as her confidential and intelligence funds. Having pocketed the money, she produced 5,000 fictitious receipts. Nearly all the recipients bore funny, obnoxious and weird names, like vagina (in Cebuano), ingredients for chichirya, baking, fruit salad and inhabitants of the animal kingdom.

Mary Grace Piattos received P70,000 in reward money. Renan Piattos got P110,000 for selling information. Mico Harina pocketed P295,000 in purchased supplies. Patty Ting got P150,000 for information. Andy Lim (pronounce it, it means darkness) was paid P50,000 for information.

She routinely handed out cash envelopes (bribes) to her subordinates to make them malleable during biddings. The DepEd under her had, after all, the highest budgetary allocation.

Sara’s bank transactions totaled P6.77 billion although she earned only P24 million legitimately as an elected public official. Were the billions bribe money? From drug and other crime syndicates? As commissions from business deals or government regulatory approvals? Dividends or earnings from family businesses? Under the Constitution, however, the vice president of the Philippines, just like the president, cannot engage in any business. So why did she name in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, 18 corporations where she has business interests?

Finally, Sara threatened to kill President Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and the former speaker Martin Romualdez. No joke, no joke. It was to exact revenge, she explained later, in a TV interview.

How do you get rid of such a divisive character?

The House of Representatives impeached her twice. The first attempt was stopped by the Supreme Court. (The gall).

The second attempt, signed by 257 congressmen, made it to the Senate Impeachment Court, which has been conducting the trial since July 6. Sara’s four crimes: misuse of the P612.5 million tax money; bribery; unexplained wealth; and grave threats.

Conviction means she is ousted as vice president, ousted as a presidential candidate in 2028 and out forever from any public office.

Originally, or textually, it would have required 16 senators – two-thirds of the 24 members of the Senate – to convict her. This week, the Senate impeachment court decided that senators who are outside its power to compel attendance to hear Sara’s cases cannot vote. At this writing, senators able to attend court hearings number 20. Two-thirds of them is 14.

From 16 to 14, that’s two fewer senators needed to get a conviction. The majority already has 13 senators. It only needs one to make 14. It seems that the 14th is Senator Mark Villar. He voted with the majority to make two-thirds just 14, not 16.

There will be four waves of voting on four separate days. This is because there are four articles of impeachment – misuse of P612.5 million, bribery, unexplained wealth and grave threats.

It’s possible Sara would not be convicted when the vote comes on misuse of P612.5 million. It’s possible she would not be convicted on the issue of bribery. It’s possible she would not be convicted for amassing billions? But grave threats? Nah.

Chief Justice Renato Corona was impeached and ousted in December 2011 for an alleged crime that is not even a crime. He allegedly did not declare his dollar accounts in his SALN. But dollar accounts are supposed to be secret, by law and by practice.

On Jan. 20, 2001, Joseph Estrada was ousted as president after the Senate impeachment court refused to open a second envelope that was supposedly evidence of bribe money. The envelope was opened after Erap’s ouster. It was nothing.

If a chief justice or a president could be removed for fictitious crimes, could VP Sara be retained or acquitted for any or all four crimes, each of which has damning and compelling evidence? Sobra namang swerte niya sa buhay pag nagkagano'n.

Another way to get rid of Sara is through elections. Per surveys, she is supposed to be a cinch for the presidency in 2028.

Per experience and history, the No. 1 in surveys for president at this time of the year before a presidential election ended up No. 3 or 4 when the actual votes were counted. That is true of Ramon Mitra, Manny Villar and Jojo Binay. After leading pre-presidential surveys, Mitra ended up No. 4, Villar No. 3 and Binay No. 3.

Conviction by impeachment is a catharsis. A massive loss in an election is a catharsis.

Per Wikipedia, catharsis is triggered when a character’s downfall stems from hamartia (a tragic error or flaw), making the resulting suffering feel meaningful rather than random.

For the nation at large, the people feel a range of emotions during and after a catharsis – fear, pity and great relief!

As they say, “catharsis is like a spiritual or moral cleansing, where the audience gains deep insight into human life and ethical responsibility…It’s a medical release, where toxic or excessive emotions are drained from the psyche.” There is calm and peace.

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