Playing with fire - WHY AND WHY NOT by Nelson A. Navarro

It sounds too good or too horrible to be true, this fantasy coming from President Estrada’s lawyers about disposing of the threat of impeachment through a most convenient resort to legal technicalities. The House of Representatives did not follow the correct procedures, they claim, therefore the Senate may have to throw out the charges sent to it by the Lower House. The net effect: Estrada’s instant "acquittal" or the equivalent thereof.

How the honorable senators will deal with this legal hocus-pocus when they convene tomorrow remains to be seen. What seems clear is that Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, as the impeachment court’s presiding officer, will have to rule on the motion and his ruling, in turn, will have to be voted upon by the senators. A simple majority sets Estrada free, according to Senate President Nene Pimentel. "Then, it’s all over," he says.

That is, Estrada will be free of impeachment woes for the moment, but not entirely free of the political and economic crisis that has engulfed the nation since Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson set off Juetengate in early October. In other words, prepare for the real Times of Trouble.

Opposition leaders like Raul Roco, Joker Arroyo and Sonny Alvarez are unanimous in saying Estrada’s prospective "acquittal" can only be akin to jumping from the frying pan into the fire of the people’s wrath. The street demonstrations that Estrada the other day branded as "ruinous" to the national economy can only escalate and turn from bad to worse. Inevitably, the specter of political chaos is bound to trigger military intervention that could pull the plug on what precious little remains of Philippine democracy.

Tomorrow’s Senate session can only drag out a process that Pimentel originally estimated will go on till the end of December and others say could spill well into February or the start of the May 2001 campaign season. The motion to quash unnecessarily exacerbates political tensions and, in effect, puts the senators on loyalty check too early in the game.

Offhand, the chances of dismissal seem bleak. The Senators deemed to be pro-Estrada may have eight or more votes to prevent conviction, but they may not have enough votes or the requisite gall to throw out the case even before the prosecution has formally presented the charges.

This brings us to the point that playing for time could well backfire on the accused. At the very least, it enhances the widespread belief that the defense lawyers are defending the indefensible and, therefore, have to resort to clever legal tricks that belong more to ordinary criminal courts than to a special court created by the Constitution to try erring high officials of the land, especially the President of the Republic.

Dilatory tactics look particularly suspicious in the light of Estrada’s loud and repeated boasts that he’s ready to face his accusers and that he doesn’t mind appearing before the Senate to prove his innocence.

Estrada’s lawyers are no babes in the woods. Andres Narvasa, Estelito Mendoza and Raul Daza are hardened practitioners of the political and corporate wars that have ravaged the land for the past 30 years or so. They are certainly aware of the gravity of the charges against their client and the damning evidence that may have been collected to make these charges stick. What they’re up to is to indefinitely postpone Estrada’s day of reckoning or, better still, make sure it never comes to pass.

As Sen. Frank Drilon points out, Mendoza – the legal samurai of Lucio Tan, Danding Cojuangco and Imelda Marcos– specializes in delays, postponements and obfuscations. As former Supreme Court Chief Justice turned banking fat cat under the Estrada regime, Narvasa brings some measure of gravitas or intimidation to the defense case. Daza provides ample proof that people previously identified with pro-democracy forces are not necessarily beyond finding common cause, if only for mercenary reasons, with Marcos loyalists like Estrada whom they once supposedly despised.

These lawyers are well aware that it would be political suicide for Estrada to appear before the Senate. Much as the man’s macho image compels him to treat the case as a remake of Duel in the Sun or Gunfight at O.K. Corral, they know Estrada will be turned into mincemeat if and when he makes the fatal mistake of venturing into the Senate arena.

What guaranteed mess Estrada will create for himself is painfully obvious, given his pathetic performances before the Foreign Correspondents Club in Manila and a live interview with CNBC‘s Rico Hizon. Equally disturbing was his more recent emotional outburst before Malacañang reporters who ambushed him with questions about his mistresses.

Apart from tying himself in knots during cross-examination or lashing out in anger should he find himself cornered, Estrada can’t exactly count on the supposed "Eight Stooges" to bail him out of trouble. Such open pandering to their presidential friend could only expose these characters to more derision and contempt than those that have prompted them to so publicly proclaim their "impartiality" and wish to decide the case in accordance with their conscience or what passes for it. Let the trial begin.