Betrayal of public trust

Most Filipinos already expected the Justice Committee of the Lower House of Congress to junk the impeachment complaints against President Aquino for alleged lack of substance. But most of them likewise believe that said Committee is wrong in finding and declaring that the complaints indeed lack substance.

Ordinarily, the committee should have adopted only one resolution on whether or not the complaint is sufficient in form and substance because sufficiency or insufficiency in form and substance are usually determined at the same hearing. In this case however, the committee still separated the two issues and resolved them piece-meal. Apparently they were trying to show that they were not under the influence of Malacanang by initially finding the complaint sufficient in form just to keep the people in suspense and to give the impression that this time they will act independently.

 But the “bosses” of Aquino already saw the scripted ploy. They knew that after going through the motions and somewhat tedious  process of reviewing the complaint for another week, the Committee will also readily junk it for insufficiency in substance. The people have already gotten used to this kind subterfuge and maneuverings. They already know that almost all the actions and moves under the present administration are puro forma as shown again by these latest moves on the impeachment complaints. Indeed almost all the actions and pronouncements of this administration are the ones that appear to lack substance.

Actually, the question of whether or not the impeachment complaints are sufficient in substance can simply be resolved by determining whether the allegations therein are sound, concrete and specific enough as to enable the respondent, Aquino, to answer them adequately and clearly and to prepare for his defense. It is not necessary for the Committee to determine whether there are adequate proofs or sufficient evidence to support the allegations which is the function of the Senate during the trial of the impeachment complaints, after the proceedings in the House of Representatives (Sec 3 (4) Article XI, Constitution).

This is especially true and quite clear with respect to the first two complaints charging Aquino with “culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption in connection with his implementation of the DAP already found by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. The complaints accused him of using the DAP to bribe the Senators and Congressmen into convicting former Chief Justice Corona of impeachable offenses filed against him. They appear to be quite specific, concrete and substantial enough. The Committee should have endorsed them to the entire membership of the Lower House who will decide on whether to file them in the Senate for trial. Obviously the 54 members of the Justice Committee who voted to junk the complaint acted with precipitate haste in obedience to the wishes of the man in Malacanang.

Indeed this is the same kind of haste displayed by the members of the Lower House in the impeachment complaints against Corona except that in this case, the complaints were peremptorily dismissed instead of being hastily filed in the Senate after rolling out the pork barrel railroading the impeachment resolution against Corona signed by some Congressmen without even reading it. Actually as it turned out during the Senate Impeachment trial of Corona, the complaints against him were more defective and should have been the ones dismissed outright. In fact he was convicted of charges not specifically and clearly set forth in the impeachment complaints filed against him.

If Aquino has nothing to hide and is “clean as a whistle,” as he and his PR men repeatedly claim, he should have allowed or even convinced his minions in the House of Representatives to endorse the two complaints for trial in the Senate so that he can prove his innocence and clear his name. He could have proven that the DAP funds were spent for peoples’ benefit and welfare; that none of them have been used to bribe members of Congress into doing what he wants them to do. This is usually the reaction of a person wrongfully accused. He will always welcome the opportunity to prove his accusers wrong and to show that he is not  guilty of any wrongdoing.

The precipitate thrashing of the impeachment complaints particularly those involving the DAP funds has all the more confirmed the increasing public perception that public funds have been misused by the officials of the current regime. It has not cleared the air of doubts and suspicions about the corrupt use of the peoples’ money. On the contrary, it has even strengthened the on-going belief that something fishy has happened and continues to happen up to now regarding this DAP. So this administration is using every means to control the fetid odor of these fishy deals from becoming so offensive to the peoples’ sense of smell as to force them to go deeper into their sources and remove them. 

With these latest developments, it has also become clearer and more convincing that this administration is not transparent at all, in its dealings, transactions and in the discharge of its functions. Its officials are moving behind the scenes because something is wrong or illegal with what they are doing which they don’t want their bosses to know. This is what betrayal of public trust is all about.  In fact, the DAP was devised and created in 2011 yet but was only discovered two years later. This is an indicia of bad faith that has obviously forced Aquino to react strongly and contemptuously against the SC for declaring the DAP unconstitutional.

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