Analysis
Saving Arroyo at the Expense of Justice
Recent moves to derail
and sabotage the impeachment proceedings would only hasten the process of
settling the issue of her administration’s legitimacy via the
extra-constitutional means. These underhanded maneuverings can be easily
seen as not only an infringement on the impeachment process but also an
obstruction of justice.
By Bobby Tuazon
Bulatlat
At the rate the
impeachment proceedings are being stymied and other desperate measures are
being done to save her presidency, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would end up,
as political analysts interviewed by Bulatlat this week said, digging her
own grave. And she could as well be stacking up more impeachable offenses
than she can handle.
Two days after they
deserted Macapagal-Arroyo on July 8, a number of government officials –
now collectively known as “Hyatt 10” – revealed to reporters that the
president has set aside governance in favor of saving her presidency. “She
was micromanaging the PR aspect of the crisis, while the reform agenda was
set aside. Some of the cabinet discussions even tackled payoffs to the
media,” one resigned secretary told reporters.
The Arroyo presidency
began to hover between survival and demise in the wake of revelations that
she stole the presidency with the help of certain Commission on Elections
(Comelec) officials as well as the armed forces and police. She allegedly
wormed her way into the vice presidency and presidency through jueteng
(illegal numbers game) payoffs. The allegations sent tens of thousands of
protesters taking to the streets to call for her resignation or ouster
even as Macapagal-Arroyo’s credibility ratings plunged to the lowest ever
compared to her predecessors.
To millions of
Filipinos, she had become an illegitimate president, a “liar” and a
“thief.” To many others, the presidential crisis is a symptom of an elite
political rule on the brink of collapse after generations of plundering
the nation’s economy, of unbridled bureaucratic corruption and subjecting
the people under conditions of poverty and social injustice.
In a bid to hold on
to power, Macapagal-Arroyo asked for continued military, police and local
officials’ support, while courting influential business and church
leaders. Her political allies asked Supreme Court justices to effect a
temporary restraining order (TRO) on the controversial expanded value
added tax (E-Vat), aware that enforcing it now would unleash widespread
unrest throughout the country.
Three-pronged strategy
Today as the House of
Representatives wrangle over the impeachment complaint against her, the
president and her close allies are initiating what appears to be a
three-pronged strategy to prevent Macapagal-Arroyo’s removal from office.
This strategy is being done in a situation akin to a wounded wolf fighting
its last, desperate battle.
First: Defeat impeachment on or before September
The first step is to
defeat the impeachment proceedings. Administration congressmen have been
marshaled to stall the House committee proceedings through tactics like
raising “prejudicial questions.” As this is being done, there have been
reports of bribery (sources say to the tune of billions of pesos and
junket offers) and trade-offs in a bid to win over or neutralize
legislators who would likely vote for impeachment while keeping the
loyalty of those known to be cooperative. At the same time, the president
is moving heaven and earth for a political reconciliation with certain
figures who – so she believes – still have influence in Congress. These
include ousted president Joseph E. Estrada, Imelda Marcos and the incoming
president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.
Malacañang seeks to
end the impeachment proceedings before Macapagal-Arroyo leaves
mid-September for a foreign trip which includes a speech before the UN
General Assembly and a possible invitation to see U.S. President George W.
Bush, Jr. Failure to secure a meeting with Bush may likely be a sign that
she is about to be dumped by the U.S. president.
Second: Project hands-on presidency
Secondly, Macapagal-Arroyo’s
main PR strategy is to project the image of a hands-on president ever
attentive to the nation’s woes. One of the projects of her spin doctors is
to build up what the president’s energy officials claim is a power crisis
that warrants the mobilization of austerity measures. The PR project is
double-edged: while it paints Macapagal-Arroyo as a hands-on president it
also aims to diffuse the outrage against the presidency and divert public
attention away from the impeachment hullabaloo.
Third: Charter change
Thirdly, Macapagal-Arroyo
is also pushing for the Ramos formula of charter change that seeks to
change the presidential system into a parliamentary one with a unicameral
legislature. Moves are underway in Congress to fast-track charter change
even as recent surveys also reveal that most Filipinos are opposed to it.
It is on the
impeachment process, however, where presidential power is being used to
thwart the proceedings even at this early stage, reportedly funded by
government money such as, as alleged, the road users’ tax. Accusations
have been hurled even in the Senate that Malacañang, aside from resorting
to bribery and trade-offs, is using pressures including police power to
silence potential witnesses on the jueteng scandal and suppressing
evidence that would prove charges of electoral fraud. Malacañang hand has
also been suspected in the disappearance of former election official
Virgilio Garcillano, alleged to be Macapagal-Arroyo’s operator in the 2004
electoral fraud.
If true, these recent
charges of derailing and sabotaging the impeachment process could earn for
the president new constitutional violations including obstruction of
justice. If there is any parallelism, U.S. President Richard Nixon, who
faced impeachment over the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s, was
forced to resign primarily because he – along with other top
administration officials - tried to cover up evidences in connection with
the wiretapping of the Democratic Party convention.
With several charges
already lodged against her in the impeachment process, recent attempts to
derail and sabotage the proceedings would hasten the process of settling
the issue via the extra-constitutional means. These attempts can be easily
seen as not only an infringement on the impeachment process but also an
obstruction of justice. People who want to see the impeachment pursued
with finality in order to ferret out the truth, will not hesitate to use
other avenues that could even lead to the embattled president’s ouster.
Bulatlat
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