Indeed! Impeachment is a political process!

That the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) came up with their pastoral letter after their two-day retreat in Manila stating, "It was not inclined to favor the impeachment process as the means of establishing the truth." They further said, "unless the process is guided by no other motive than genuine concern for the common good, impeachment will again serve as an unproductive political exercise dismaying citizens."

If you ask me, this is a very sensible response to the latest impeachment process filed against Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) and for obvious reasons; it only serves to benefit the opposition who until now wants to unseat her from office. A year ago, they filed an impeachment complaint against her and lost in the House of Representatives. That defeat caused them to march into the streets in protest, refusing to accede to the will of the majority in a very political exercise.

This is why we laud the CBCP's pastoral letter because the bishops have finally understood that impeachment after all is a political exercise and therefore it is the wrong vehicle to search for the truth. Not so, says my good friend, Sen. Ramon Magsaysay Jr. who quipped, "Impeachment is the best, most peaceful way of seeking the truth." I beg to disagree!

During my tv interview with then Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. he told me in no uncertain terms that in an impeachment process, even if the President were found to be guilty of the issues hurled against her or him, what counts is whether the Senate or Congress would vote to impeach the Chief Executive.

A case in point was the case of former US President Bill Clinton, who lied before the Americans in a televised interview saying "I did not have sexual relations with that woman (Lewinski)." Eventually the truth surfaced and Pres. Clinton admitted to have oral sex with Monica Lewinski. During his impeachment process the Senate voted to keep him as President. There you are. The truth actually surfaced, but the reality of the Democrats controlling the Legislature surfaced. Now we're talking here about American politicians. If we talked about Pinoy politicians I doubt if anyone of them is capable of telling us the truth.

Lastly, one of the reasons the opposition filed this impeachment process was the President's declaration of Proclamation no. 1017 which they say was unnecessary and a precursor to Martial Law. Well, the truth just recently surfaced in that videotape of Gen. Danilo Lim who with a bunch of soldiers behind him no longer supported his Commander-in-Chief. That is clear proof that the President's judgment call to declare Proclamation No. 1017 was an act of self-defense, which is allowed in our constitution.

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Should we call this a case of "Poetic Justice"? I'm referring to the report that certain groups that worked for the ouster of that feisty Cebu Customs Collector Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang is not happy about her transfer out of Cebu. I didn't write about this issue anymore, but last Friday, I personally asked this question to Finance Secretary Gary Teves, whether the news reports were true that Mangaoang has been replaced by Customs Collector Ricardo Belmonte of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) and Teves confirmed this report.

When I ask him for what reason Mangaoang was being replaced, he merely retorted that henceforth, the stay of a Customs Collector would depend upon their performance. Well if this is a policy direction from the Secretary of Finance, who are we to oppose it?

The problem now really is, those who tried to move heaven or hell to oust Mangaoang and spent money to bring Grace Caringal and then later on Purita Parojinog to Cebu are now left with an empty bag, as they have no connections to Belmonte. But surely, these people are now busy searching for that connection. But given the family background of Belmonte, being the brother of one of the best, if not the best mayor in this country, Sonny Belmonte Jr., then these people might just find it difficult to make their usual "palusot" which they couldn't get when Mangaoang was Customs Collector in Cebu. So this is really what we call poetic justice! I was taken aback by the report from the Philippine Star last Sunday that the problems we're facing with Nursing these days stem from the fact that even the Nursing deans and professors have gone abroad to earn a better living. Thanks to the severe worldwide shortage in Nursing. If there is anything going for the Philippines, it is that we have a huge population of people who are more than willing to study nursing so they can work abroad. But the problem we now face is that, our good professors, teachers and even deans have left. No wonder the quality of nursing graduates are going down.

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