Impeachable offenses

Whatever the Diehard Duterte Supporters (DDS) think, there is something weird in the declarations and actuations of their idol. True or not, the growing public perception is that he appears to be of unsound mind or does not carefully and prudently deliberate upon the effects and consequences of what he says and does. This is very evident in his latest tirade and derogatory remarks against the Catholic Church and God Himself Whom he even blasphemes and describes as “torpe.” Hence a lot of people especially Catholics comprising 80 percent of the country’s population think that he should undergo some sort of a mental examination to erase all doubts that he is not permanently disabled to act as President of the country as provided in Section 8, Article VII of our Constitution. In fact, he has been previously declared by a psychiatrist as psychologically incapacitated in connection with the declaration of nullity of his marriage. So, to dissipate this growing public perception he should undergo a mental examination to prove that he is still mentally fit to perform the job of President of the Philippines.

To be sure, his recent verbal onslaughts against the Catholic Church and its beliefs may even be considered an impeachable offense because it is a “culpable violation of the Constitution according to Section 2 of Article X1. The particular provision violated here is Article II Section 6 on the Declaration of Principles which provides that “The separation of Church and state shall be inviolable.” The meaning of this principle is explained in Article III Section 5 particularly the portion which provides that “The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed.” This free exercise clause means that it would be improper for a public officer to make a derogatory remark about a religious group. As held in the case of Iglesia ni Kristo vs.Gironella, 106 SCRA,1 (July 25,1981), “Freedom of religion implies that no one, much less a public official, is privileged to characterize the actuations of its adherents in a derogatory sense.”

People are now even concluding and believing that the killings of three Catholic priests, Fr. Tito Paez, Fr. Mark Ventura and Fr. Richmond Nilo would not have happened if Duterte did not publicly display such belligerent attitude and insolently assailed the Catholic Church and blasphemed God. Of course this is a conclusion which appears to be unfounded and has not been proven. In fact there seems to be no connection at all between Duterte’s tirade against the Catholic church and the killings of its clergy. But the coincidence of their occurrences cannot completely dispel such a conclusion. Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Pangasinan and Bayombong Bishop Jose Elmer Mangalinao cannot really be faulted for saying that “They are killing our flock. They are killing us the shepherds. They are killing our faith. They are cursing our Church. They are killing God again as they did in Calvary.”

The only way to completely erase this belief about the connection of the killing to the attacks of the Church is for this administration through the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the government prosecutors to thoroughly investigate these killings and see to it that the culprits are properly and duly charged, tried and convicted as expeditiously as the crimes were carried out. The PNP Chief’s recent announcement that Fr. Nilo’s killing is an “isolated case.” is quite untimely and unfortunate. But he obviously assuaged Fr. Nilo’s family by going to his wake to sympathize with them and to assure them that he will personally attend to the investigation. It is also quite reassuring that Malacanang has assured the public that justice will be done in these killings. Let’s all hope and pray that all these commitments come true; that people will be more vigilant and courageous in pursuing truth and justice instead of cowering in fear and remaining silent. Let us see to it that the culprits are expeditiously identified and arrested so that justice can be duly rendered.

Another impeachable offense which Duterte may be held liable is regarding the Panatag Shoal, the Mischief Reef and the Recto Bank located in the West Philippine Sea. In August 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague declared these areas as within the Philippines’ 200 mile maritime exclusive economic zone. Pursuant to the decision, the Philippines was awarded sovereign rights over the areas based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). But when Duterte assumed office, Duterte does not want to enforce said decision despite China’s open disregard of the ruling in our favor. Duterte even stopped the joint maritime patrol with US in the West Philippine Sea. He said he does not want to fight and incur the ire of China by enforcing said ruling that was being disregarded by China because he is afraid of China’s more superior military power. In a speech last September 2016, he said that he will only assert the territorial rights of the Philippine within the 12 mile zone and not the 220 mile exclusive economic zone.

The latest incident here is about the Chinese Coast Guard confiscating the catch of Filipino fishermen in the Panatag or Scarborough Shoals which the Duterte Administration initially ignored until the fishermen’s plight was publicized and aired. Obviously the Duterte administration is more concerned about China than on the rights of our fishermen. This is a clear dereliction of duty if not a treasonous act.

Unfortunately however, any impeachment complaint against Duterte will never get off the ground as he controls both Houses of Congress.

So we should just keep on praying for our country and people.

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