BY ELLEN TORDESILLAS: AQUINO'S HARD-SELL IS A TURN-OFF
MANILA, MARCH 27, 2011 (MALAYA) Ellen Tordesillas (Was Lacierda serious or was he saying this just for PR purposes? They should stop giving false hopes.')
PRESIDENT Aquino should be told that talk does not mean intelligence.
If he is worried that some people underestimate his intelligence and competence and thinks that by indiscriminately sharing information and his thoughts, he will earn respect as a leader, he is mistaken.
One flabbergasted political observer described him as "a female Kris Aquino." And that's not flattering at all for a leader.
A day after the House of Representatives approved in an overwhelming vote the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, the President appealed to the people: "As the Senate prepares to try the Ombudsman, I urge you to support this (impeachment) and other efforts to fight corruption."
Reminded of the principle of separation of powers in a republican state which the Philippines is, Aquino said, "I may be a president but I am also a citizen of this republic."
He amplified on his statement: "As a citizen of this republic, I am really not happy with the performance of the Ombudsman and her people… I think my position is very clear. Again I'm expressing my opinion not just as President but also as a citizen who demands a certain level of quality of functions of public service."
Hasn't any of his advisers told Aquino that unless he resigns from the presidency, there is no such thing as a statement from Benigno Aquino III on political issues as "a private citizen?"
In the first place, if he were not president, reporters won't bother asking for his statement on the Ombudsman impeachment.
Aquino's hard-sell approach is an insult to the senators who would be sitting as judges in the impeachment trial.
As Sen. Sergio Osmeña III said, "We are judges. We have to be independent. We have to be able to judge a case based on its merits and on the quantum of evidence that will be presented by the prosecutors."
If it were simply based on political affiliation, Osmeña said, "we can take a vote after five minutes. Let's ignore the evidence. We will just open and read the charges and ask everybody to vote, Let's divide the house."
The public supports Aquino's desire for an Ombudsman that shares his determination to make accountable those who committed graft and corruption in the previous administration but he should learn to do it with certain political savvy. The French has a word for it: finesse.
Aquino won under the platform of "Change". People have had enough of the culture of impunity that characterized the Arroyo administration.
One of the crimes of Gloria Arroyo is the destruction of democratic institutions, one of them is the system of check and balance.
The main feature of a democratic and republican state which we, the Filipino people, adopted when we ratified the Constitution has three independent pillars in governance: legislative, executive and the judiciary. The system is designed that they are co-equal.
The purpose of having three co-equal branches of government is to prevent abuse of power we saw in the many crimes committed under the Arroyo administration such as the rigging of the 2004 elections and the anomalous use fertilizer funds intended for farmers for Arroyo's election campaign. The list is long.
Under Arroyo, the House of Representatives was a "rubber stamp". But she was never made accountable for all the anomalies that happened because she controlled Congress and the judiciary.
She was able to effectively control the House by satisfying the greed of the congressmen with the use of the Countrywide Development Fund popularly known as pork barrel.
There were allegations that the overwhelming votes for the impeachment of Gutierrez last Monday was due to Malacañang's use of the same deplorable technique that Arroyo used. We did not rule out the possibility that the offensive text message making clear to the congressmen that the release their pork barrel fund was dependent on the "Yes" vote to the impeachment of Gutierrez was the handiwork of Arroyo's propaganda machine. But the silence of Rep. Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio A. Abaya (1st district), allegedly the sender of the text message, makes it difficult to simply dismiss the allegations.
It's disturbing to see Aquino and his allies clumsily do what Arroyo was doing astutely in destroying the country's democratic institutions.
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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