IRRELEVANT
MANILA, MARCH 17,
2012 (INQUIRER) There's The Rub Irrelevant By: Conrado de
Quiros - Tobias Tiangco struck a heroic pose last Monday. He had broken
ranks with his fellows, he said, to expose a deep-seated wrong. That was the
impeachment of Renato Corona. That was not the product of judicious
deliberation, that was the product of reckless conspiracy led by Speaker
Feliciano Belmonte.
He himself, Tiangco said, would have gone along with it "eyes closed" but
balked upon seeing it had no "probable cause." He added: "I understand probable
cause as the probability that the accused did what he is being accused of. How
could I be convinced if there was no document or proof being presented?"
Tiangco struck a heroic pose last Monday, but he succeeded only in looking
like a clown.
At the very least, all he showed with his appearance for the defense was how
different Belmonte's House is from Corona's Court.
In Corona's Court, everyone is banned from telling the world what he knows.
In Belmonte's House, everyone is free to howl his head off at the moon. In
Corona's Court, everyone must bow down to the wishes of the crown. In Belmonte's
House, everyone may felicitously follow his conscience. Corona's Court courts
contempt, Belmonte's House houses freedom.
While at this, Belmonte's House sounds like a respectable domicile, Corona's
Court sounds like a motel in Pasig.
But Tiangco of course goes beyond Belmonte to suggest that it's P-Noy himself
who's behind the conspiracy. Which follows the Corona-Arroyo camp's mantra that
P-Noy is so power-mad he wants to control the three branches of government and
will do everything in his power to do it. Do they have the right person in mind?
Hell, are they in their right minds?
Who are they describing, P-Noy or Gloria Arroyo?
Who was so power-mad she stole the vote and clung on to power like a leech?
Who wielded power so ruthlessly she quashed every impeachment bid against
her—after decreeing that no government official could testify she stole the
vote—and even evicted antagonistic elected officials from their posts?
Jojo Binay knows that very well, he nearly became a victim of it after Ronnie
Puno bore down on Makati with soldiers to try to oust him. Fortunately, Binay
had balls and dug in for a firefight. Puno blinked, and withdrew.
At the very most, all Tiangco showed with his argument that he found no
"probable cause" was that he doesn't read the newspapers or watch the news on
TV.
Well, Navotas now knows better in time for the next elections. Why should you
confine yourself solely to the documents the impeachment bidders submit to know
what's happening?
You know—or should know, being a congressman who ought to be abreast of his
times—that the Supreme Court had issued a TRO countermanding Malacañang's order
for Immigration to stop Arroyo from leaving the country.
You know—or should know, holding as you do a post that requires knowledge of
reading and writing—that Malacañang had been accusing Corona, Arroyo's midnight
appointee, of ruling prejudicially in her favor. And the impeachment comes to
you as a surprise?
It's one thing to disagree with impeachment bidders' arguments and say that
they seem to be weak. It's another to say there's no probable cause. The one is
the product of some thought, the other of plain ignorance.
Indeed, it's one thing to say that the TRO is an isolated incident and does
not constitute a pattern of bias justifying impeachment. It's another to say an
impeachment case has been sprung upon Congress out of nowhere and the
congressmen are being stampeded into acquiescence. The one is the product of
personal judgment, the other is projecting one's ignorance upon others.
The fact that Tiangco was willing to sign the impeachment complaint "eyes
closed" before he changed his mind indicates the quality of his mind, before and
after change. It does not indict others, it indicts him.
But all this is a tempest in a teacup. Which brings us to what's gone
horribly wrong with the impeachment trial. It's become, well, a tempest in a
teacup. It's become as important to our lives as something happening in Ghana.
It's become as central to our lives as a theological debate on how many angels
can fit on the head of a pin. All that buildup about the defense's coming-out
party only to produce this? Only to bring us back to technicalities?
Tiangco's tacit proposition that to see probable cause you have to ignore the
world and concentrate only on the documents of impeachment is all of a piece
with the defense's tacit proposition that to see probable culpability you have
to ignore the world and concentrate only on what the impeachment court allows
you to see. In order to see probable crime, you have to forget that Corona is
corrupt, harbors hidden wealth in dollars, and has steered Supreme Court
decisions in Arroyo's favor—these may not be discussed—and focus only on laying
the predicate, talking like lawyers, and crying "Waah!" In order to see probable
evil, you have to forget what the Basas have revealed about Corona and wife, you
have to listen only to the ululations of allowable witnesses like Tiangco.
Elsewhere in the world, that is not called rule of law, that is called the
tail wagging the dog. It is not reality that must bow down to the demands of the
impeachment court, it is the impeachment court that must bow down to the demands
of reality. It is not social discourse that must conform to the marginal
concerns of the impeachment court, it is the impeachment court that must yield
to the central concerns of social discourse. It is not law that defines justice,
it is justice that defines the law.
The world has moved on while the defense was sleeping, or preparing its
brief. The impeachment court doesn't bestir itself to catch up with it and it
will soon find itself, if indeed it hasn't done so already: Irrelevant.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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