EDITORIAL - Out of control

Sordid details of alleged jueteng payoffs continue to emerge at the Senate, but every hearing day the revelations become more anti-climactic. The bombshells were dropped a long time ago, implicating President Arroyo’s eldest son Mikey and brother-in-law Ignacio in the jueteng scandal.

Criminal charges have been filed in connection with those allegations. But because of the slow pace of judicial investigation in this country, people want to get the story quickly from witnesses who have unwittingly provided great entertainment. The amusement value can wear off quickly, however, if the proceedings continue in the same manner as in recent days. Senators handling the probe are losing control of the proceedings, and cannot even discipline witnesses’ lawyers who show them open contempt.

Not that there isn’t cause to be contemptible. There is the spectacle of a senator out on bail for the capital offense of plunder involving jueteng payola, and another senator who once governed a province known as a hotbed of jueteng, who lack the delicadeza to inhibit themselves from the illegal gambling probe.

A nation hungry for the truth can overlook that lack of delicadeza, but the senators must get a firm grip on the inquiry if they don’t want to turn it into a circus even bigger than it already is, with themselves as the top clowns. Better yet, they might want to start winding down this probe and allow the criminal justice system to take over while they focus on their principal task of legislation.

How much higher can the accusations go? If there are witnesses set to implicate President Arroyo herself or her controversial husband, let’s hear the story now so that formal investigations can proceed quickly. This crisis cannot be prolonged indefinitely. The cast of characters in the jueteng probe has provided great entertainment, but at some point we need to dispel the uncertainty generated by unresolved accusations. Justice must be meted out and the guilty punished.