Captives of history - WHY AND WHY NOT by Nelson A. Navarro

Whatever credibility the senators of the land may or may not have, it is indeed their "painful duty" to sit in judgment of President Estrada for bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

Although it’s happening for the first time in this country, this spectacle of the high and the mighty being made to answer for alleged high crimes against the nation has happened over and over again in history.

As always, the question of justice takes on some partisan form or another. Kings and presidents are never without diehard loyalists and their enemies tend to be forgiving and cruel. Any talk of "objectivity" and "fairness" can only be self-serving or a matter of putting some positive spin to the unpleasant task of terminating a dynasty or regime.

When rulers are put on the dock, they are humbled beyond words. In the first place, they won’t be facing such rank humiliation without the prior crumbling of their power and position. Hence, the saying about "how the mighty are fallen" or the ominous talk surrounding someone who once loomed as a colossus being subject to the tender mercies of his enemies.

Those 22 senators who sit in judgment of Estrada also stand before the bar of history. How they vote or do not vote cannot but measure their own worth as servants of the people. They, too, cannot avoid being judged.

More important than finding Estrada guilty or not guilty is the matter of giving him his day in court – there to face the serious charges, challenge his accusers and turn the tide of public opinion one way or the other.

For that is what the Senate trial is really all about: A microcosm of the sharpest legal minds and the most cynical political operatives. The honorable senators hardly operate in vacuum. Surely, the people’s wrath or approval of their verdict will have to be factored into an already volatile situation.

One grim scenario, for instance, has the president winning acquittal but eventually devoured by some "God Save the King" coup d’etat or a cabal of his civilian and military friends attempting to pre-empt the opposition’s bid to rush into the vacuum of power. But at the very least, the Senate will have to grapple with severe political costs to the nation as already reflected in the comatose economy and its prolonged deprivation of vital foreign and domestic investments.

These are some of the reasons prompting Senate President Nene Pimentel’s lamentation about the Upper House’s moral dilemma. As political animals – some of whom directly owe their power and fortune Mr. Estrada – the honorable senators cannot but be mindful of the tricky balance between gratitude and duty, between expediency and honor.

Miriam Defensor-Santiago has put her colleagues in a deep bind. By blurting out that eight senators are disposed to acquit the embattled president, she has wittingly or unwittingly set off a witch hunt for these Palace lackeys. Kit Tatad’s "resignation" from the ruling party and too pious pledge to vote according to his conscience may have been one direct result of this latest and most distasteful example of senatorial foot-and-mouth disease.

The burning spotlight has, of course, shifted in the direction of known presidential friends like John Osmeña and Tessie Oreta. Perhaps anticipating such harsh treatment, others like Nikki Coseteng, Ramon Revilla and Robert Jaworski appear to have hedged their bets.

So has Pimentel himself conspicuously proclaimed his supposed impartiality. And lest there be any doubt, his son and namesake the other day abandoned a fat sinecure of a non-job in one of the government banks. Only months ago, Estrada had stood as sponsor to the grand Marcosian-style nuptials of this rising political star and his beauty-queen consort.

Are we to trust these honorable senators? Can we seriously take their collective pledge not to operate a kangaroo court or an acquittal express?

Personally, I am disposed to believe that the majority of senators will be on good behavior and will render creditable service. They have no choice. Either they come out shocking their unbelieving critics by voting contrary to dark expectations or they slip farther down into the abyss of ridicule.

The power of television thankfully intruding upon senatorial proceedings cannot be underestimated. For sure, there will be an avalanche of evidence proving or disproving the charges. There will be squid tactics galore to fudge the facts and figures of the case. There will be brazen denials and sudden twists and turns in the testimonies. Expect a betrayal or two.

But what cannot be avoided is the harsh glare of the cameras. There will be millions of eyes out there, many forewarned against parliamentary tricks, many more forearmed with the belief that the truth will prevail.

The highlight of it all will have to be Joseph Estrada on the hot seat. His lawyers understandably prefer that he rely exclusively on legal sophistry, but the actor in him will cry out for the opportunity to deliver the performance of a lifetime. For me and others who believe in looking the accused straight into the eyes, there can be no substitute to hearing the whole sordid truth or what passes for it straight from the horse’s mouth.

* * *

Nelson A. Navarro's e-mail address: <[email protected]>