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| ON THE OTHER HAND |
| Davide and Goliath By Antonio C. Abaya October 29, 2003 The nationwide firestorm that followed the impeachment of Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. was totally unexpected both by the 93 congressman (since reduced to 87, after six withdrew) who signed the impeachment complaint, and by those who vigorously objected to it. Nothing has infuriated the middle class as much as this singular act of defilement against an icon of bourgeois respectability, one of the few icons left bobbing in the tempestuous seas of cannibalistic politics, as the barbarians take over almost completely the governing of this most ungovernable of peoples. The middle class is concerned, and rightly so, that if Davide is removed from the Supreme Court, the way would be paved for Cojuangco to win his other cases in Court, for Erap to be restored to power, and for Ping Lacson to be acquitted in the Kuratong Baleleng case. In a broader sense, the middle class also feels the impeachment of the Supreme Court Chief Justice would be the beginning of the end of Philippine bourgeois democracy. Not since the impeachment of Joseph Estrada in 2000-2001, ironically presided over by Davide himself, has there been such a furor over a political issue from the middle class, the foot soldiers of EDSA One and EDSA Two. But while they emerged triumphant in both insurrections, this time they seem to be hoisted with their own petard, the 'petard' being the issue of inappropriate behavior (the polite term for 'corruption') in high places, which had been the rallying issue against both Ferdinand Marcos in 1986 and Joseph Estrada in 2000-2001. As I, a non-lawyer, understand it, Chief Justice Davide is being accused of mishandling hundreds of millions of pesos in the Judiciary Development Fund, most of which was supposed to go to increasing the take-home pay of hundreds of court employees, but which was used instead for the building of posh vacation homes for the justices and for furnishing their offices in style, with expensive curtains ('fit for Buckingham Palace') and P120,000 chairs. Davide's defenders have insisted that JDF funds were used correctly: 89% went to employees, rather than the statutory 80%; that the chairs cost only P25,000 each; etc. A side issue is the presence of Davide's son Bryan as vice-chair of the Court's bids-and-awards committee. Davide's defenders have retorted that it is common practice, and not at all illegal or unethical, for high officials to have confidential assistants, including their direct relatives, in their staffs, and that at any rate Bryan Davide's position gave him a merely recommendatory, not a commanding, role in the Court's bids and awards. The congressmen also alleged that Chief Justice Davide refused to cooperate with them in their normal and legal scrutiny of the Court's finances, which Chief Justice Davide vigorously denied. As accusations go, this is par for the course in Philippine cannibalistic politics. Since independence in 1946, dozens of high government officials, including several presidents, have been accused of similar, or even more spectacular, wrongdoing. But what infuriated the middle class was that 1) the accusation was couched in the form of an impeachment complaint obviously calculated to remove Chief Justice Davide from the Court, and 2) the impeachment process was initiated and railroaded through the Lower House mostly by politicians belonging to the Nationalist People's Coalition of Danding 'The Boss' Cojuangco, who had recently suffered a legal setback in the Davide Court and who has other cases pending against him in the same Court. The perception that this was Goliath's payback against Davide is hard to avoid. And what was Chief Davide's response to all this? "I have declared war against those who will destroy our democracy." He said he would "fight all the way, until where they will go!" Fighting words. But where are his numbers to disprove the accusations of financial shenanigans, not necessarily by him personally, but, if ever, certainly by people under his command? If he does not provide those numbers, he forfeits the moral high ground to his accusers. Transparency and accountability must prevail in government and no one should be exempt from that rule, least of all the highest judiciary official of the land. In defense of Chief Justice Davide, much has been made of the fact that this was the second impeachment complaint filed against him in four months. An earlier impeachment resolution against him (and seven other Supreme Court justices) had been filed in the Lower House in June but failed to prosper beyond committee level. Because the Constitution explicitly forbids the 'initiating' of an impeachment complaint against any official more than once in a year's time, much hair-splitting has gone into the question of whether the first impeachment complaint was actually 'initiated' or only 'filed,' since it did not reach the second step, the transmittal of the impeachment resolution to the Senate, where the subject official (Davide) would have been actually tried, as Erap was in 2001. As legal hair-splitting, so beloved of Filipinos of all social classes, actually makes me sleepy, I will abstain from it. I will just comment on the political fallout of this tempest. The biggest loser is Danding Cojuangco. He has been postponing again and again the announcement of his intentions for 2004, largely, in my opinion, because of his consistently low ratings in public opinion surveys. The furor over the Davide impeachment, which has been blamed on him, should now convince Danding and his lackeys in the House that he is even more disliked and unpopular than the impersonal survey statistics indicate. He should best forget about running for president. And Sen. Loren Legarda should best forget about hitching her star to his. President Arroyo suffered some collateral damage after Sen. Joker Arroyo alleged that her neutral stand early on - a perfectly correct and proper posture, if you ask me - was a sign that she had struck a deal with Cojuangco for the NPC to support her re-election bid. She has since shed her neutrality to support the embattled Davide, but went back to a neutral mode when Davide thanked Raul Roco for his expressions of support, but pointedly failed to thank her for her neutral posture. To his credit, Raul Roco was one of the first to weigh in against the impeachment, and he capitalized on his scoop by gleefully beating GMA with a stick, accusing her of "failure of leadership." "She knew all about it. But she did not see the crisis coming. She does not understand the forces at work (in the political arena)." Roco accused her of taking her own sweet time, preferring instead to strike a "neutral" posture. He said that leadership meant anticipating a crisis and intervening to avoid that crisis. "Do not wait for the crisis to happen." Did I say 'collateral damage'? It looks more like a direct hit from a smart bomb. If President Arroyo and House Speaker Jose de Venecia cannot prevail on the (17) Lakas congressmen to withdraw their signatures from the impeachment complaint, they could suffer serious loss of support from the middle class in 2004. Also killed by the impeachment complaint is De Venecia's hope to amend the Constitution through a constituent assembly made up of all the members of both houses of the present Congress, as well as the hopes of many for a shift to a unicameral legislature. By his Machiavellian maneuver through his stalking horses Teodoro and Fuentebella, Cojuangco has shown an insidious capacity for evil mischief, without even being physically present in Congress. The spectre of a shadowy Goliath cynically manipulating and buying off congressmen or members of parliament to serve his selfish ends sends shivers down middle class spines. We need a Davide to (figuratively) slay this Goliath. But the last time we asked (during the Erap impeachment), our Davide declined to pick up his slingshot. Can anyone change his mind? ***** The bulk of this article appears in the November 08, 2003 issue of the Philippines Free Press magazine. |
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Reactions to "Davide and Goliath" The meaning of "initiate" in the context of the impeachment of Chief Justice Davide by the House of Representatives is really very simple if only we take a look at the other provisions of the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines. Section 3 (1) of Article XI of the Constitution says that "The House of Representatives shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment." Section 3 (5) says that "No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year." The first impeachment complaint filed against the eight justices, including Davide, was voted down by the Committee of Justice and was never acted upon, much less initiated, by the House of Representatives. It was filed but was never initiated in the context of impeachment proceedings. The second impeachment complaint was filed by more than one-third of all the members of the House so that under Section 3 (4) the impeachment case against Chief Justice Davide is deemed to have been initiated. No other impeachment case may be initiated against the Chief Justice within one year from the filing of the second impeachment complaint. The public is creating a mountain out of a molehill. I believe the Chief Justice has integrity and that he can withstand the minutest public scrutiny. He can avert a constitutional crisis by submitting himself to a Senate trial and eventually coming out with a clean bill of health. Unless, there are surprises in store for us. If the authors of the impeachment complaint had not followed the procedure under the constitution, they would have been branded as outlaws and castigated for violating the constitution. Now that they followed the procedure under the constitution they are criticized for causing a constitutional crisis. If impeaching the Chief Justice is wrong and can cause a crisis, the constitution should have exempted him from the process. If this was an oversight, then we should at the earliest opportunity amend the constitution to provide for this exemption. Rene Torres, [email protected] October 28, 2003 Makati City ................................................... The incessant assault on the Supreme Court since the swearing in of GMA as president by the Chief Justice culminated in the impeachment of the latter. But in all probability this is not the end because the masterminds are just lurking around waiting for the opportune time to attack anyone or any institution that stood in their way. The Supreme Court under Chief Justice Davide has incurred their ire when it rightfully decided in favor of the Filipino people - in the coco levy funds declaring it as public funds, against the Marcos ill-gotten wealth and for the reopening of the Kuratong Baleleng case. That is why even when the second impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice is barred by the Constitution in the same year still the scalawags-congressmen signed it reasoning that it is not barred under House Rules. House Rules or any law cannot go against the letter and the spirit of the Constitution. It is this simple. And if by this time they still do not know this or ignores this principle they have no business being legislators because above all they swore to uphold the Constitution. I pray that the Supreme Court will decide the issue as to whether the second impeachment complaint is constitutional or not. If not, I hope that the Senate when constituted as an impeachment court will first pass upon the constitutionality of that complaint. Because an act repugnant to the Constitution is void and therefore has no force and effect at all. Since it has no basis in the Constitution and in law the only option left for the Senate is to dismiss it. Otherwise the senators would be violating their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. But will some senators appreciate the letter and intent of the Constitution or the merits or demerits of the complaint on their own without kowtowing to their party bosses? If the past Erap impeachment is t! he gauge some senators are not known to vote according to merit. Some may say that Filipinos are of a "damaged" culture. But we are not. Our hapless situation is caused by selfish leaders who have no love for this country and of the common good, who is ready cheat, bribe, manipulate and kill just to attain a devious end. As freedom loving people, now is the time for us to defend democracy by defending the Supreme Court and its Chief Justice against those with evil design to destroy it. To paraphrase Tolstoy, - Evil constitutes force and therefore it is imperative for good men to unite to defeat such force. Let us then unite for God, country and the Filipinos! Ben Entico, [email protected] October 31, 2003-11-24 ................................................................... Thanks for a very thoughtful article. Many of the things you pointed out, aren't commonly known. Salamat . AC, [email protected] November 03, 2003 ............................................................. Tony -- Right on the button -- again. Johnny Mercado, [email protected] November 03, 2003 ....................................................................... I have these observations: Cojuango might not be a loser in this game. Cojuangco may not be running for president, after all. He merely demonstrated his financial might. As Franz Josef Strauss, PARTY BOSS of Bavaria was wont to say: "I don't care which Chancellor serves under me." Cojuangco's clout is hardly dented even if this impeachment fails, but enhance if it succeeds. The people who follow Pacman will follow him anyway as long as the geld is there. So Cojuangco acted astutely. he can even negotiate with the malcontents of the military. Ross Tipon, [email protected] November 03, 2003 ....................................................................... dear mr. abaya, thanks for sending me copies of your articles which i find intellectually satisfying. i make it a point to forward the articles to my circle of friends and associates and relatives here in ayala alabang. i am confident that they do the same to their friends. this is the least i can do to return your generosity. manuel espaldon, [email protected] November 03, 2003 225 makiling st. ayala alabang ...................................................................... (Through the CebuPolitics egroup) Davide for President ? Ray Eced, [email protected] MY REPLY: Why not, if he is ready and willing to run, which he isn't. ....................................................................... Well said, ol' friend ! Dick Powell, [email protected] November 04, 2003 ......................................................................... (Through the pilipinasforum egroup) Dear Mr. Abaya, You posted at pilipinasforum: " And what was Chief Davide's response to all this? "I have declared war against those who will destroy our democracy." He said he would "fight all the way, until where they will go!" Fighting words. But where are his numbers to disprove the accusations of financial shenanigans, not necessarily by him personally, but, if ever, certainly by people under his command? If he does not provide those numbers, he forfeits the moral high ground to his accusers. Transparency and accountability must prevail in government and no one should be exempt from that rule, least of all the highest judiciary official of the land." I am not working under the Chief Justice but i happen to get the data from the Fiscal Management and Budget Office of the Supreme Court. I made a Cash Flow Analysis of the JDF and the 80% has never been used for any other purpose except for the COLA of the employees. If you care to look at these figures, they are in my attachments. Dan Adan, [email protected] November 07, 2003 ............................................................. Dear Mr. Abaya, I reprinted your article on "Davide and Goliath" on www.pldt.com and placed a link to your tapatt website. I hope that is OK with you. Mabuhay ka! Gerry Kaimo, [email protected] November 07, 2003 MY REPLY. OK with me, Gerry. Salamat. ............................................ .(Through the PilipinasForum egroup) I am just wondering why the goliaths consider chief magistrate Davide's non-cooperation to legislative inquiries as a high crime and misdemeanor worthy of impeachment. Could not a mere oversight task enough to pry out any shenanigans? Surely you all know that more billions of money are lost in intelligence black holes in many Philippine government units without anyone fully accounting for it. There are billions more wasted in investment schemes, basketball courts and some of the planet's most expensive stretches of boulevards. But you don't feel giddy over the showtrials of fingerlings. Davide is obviously a good man at the core, and that's his undoing in a political arena that celebrates wimps, hams, and perfumed soldiers with soft hands and cold feet. I don't have to ask anyone. The sight of toothless street "sophisticates" is enough. Who says the Philippines can't produce robots? We manufacture them by the busloads. I tend to believe more the allegations of the pro-Davide camp that the impeachment drive was an opportunity call. You all know the landmark decisions under his watch. Truly this impeachment deserves to be called a political indictment where territorial animals thrive most. Good luck! Ansel Augustin, [email protected] November 10, 2003 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO |