JONATHAN DE LA CRUZ: THE
IMPEACHMENT CONUNDRUM
MANILA, MAY 24, 2012
(DAILY TRIBUNE) CROSSROADS Jonathan De la Cruz (photo) -
Conundrum: A logical postulation that evades resolution; an intricate and
difficult problem; a general break up or dispersion, a sudden downturn, a
complete failure.
I am writing this column before Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona takes the
stand to give testimony before the Senate impeachment court to face his accusers
and clear the air, so to speak.
Definitely, his testimony will serve as the climax of this meandering, four
month old trial. To say that this high profile case has brought to light the
inherent flaws of our democratic governance and the tenuous underpinnings of the
Rule of Law in this benighted land is to be very diplomatic about things.
And so, it comes as a shock that as the trial reaches its climax we are being
told by those who should know better, in and out of the impeachment court, that
the matter of removing the country's Chief Justice, the head of one of the three
co-equal branches of government, now boils down to whether he submitted an
accurate Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALn).
Is inaccurate SALn impeachable?
Coming as it did after that riveting presentation of Corona's alleged "dollar
deposits" by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, it is indeed anti-climactic to
hear anti-Corona forces suggesting that this entire shebang is actually all
about the accuracy of his entries in his SALn.
Whatever happened to the seemingly high minded submission of the 188
signatories to the impeachment complaint and the continuous barrage of
innuendoes, stretched "evidence" and straw men obviously orchestrated from the
very center of power itself.
Much like the Clinton impeachment where the Republican Party and its
adherents, in and out of the US Congress, directed the entire process, in a very
real sense, these extra legal operations have taken the place of an
honest-to-goodness impeachment process in accord with the extraordinary nature
of this undertaking.
To many observers, for example, the advice of Senator-judge Franklin Drilon,
a seasoned legal mind and former Justice Secretary, in a recent interview that
'it does not matter whether Corona had 82 or three or four dollar accounts. What
is critical is whether he included the same in his SALn" was a disturbing
downer. To them that was really going to the extreme. That the prosecution team
and the House leadership have since taken this same tack makes for a surreal
denouement.
After failing to prove that Corona has breached the constitutionally
enshrined basis for impeachment, that is, having committed and been convicted of
"treason, bribery, graft and corruption and other high crimes and
misdemeanours," his critics would now enjoin the Senate to remove him for
submitting an inaccurate SALn.
To make matters even worse, these forces are now insisting that Corona being
the country's chief magistrate should be subjected to one more standard quite
apart from those provided under the Constitution and the rules — the Caesar's
wife principle.
That is, he should not only be without sin, as it were, but be perceived as
such. That is why, as Drilon and company framed it, the number of accounts and
the amounts involved do not really matter what matters is whether Corona listed
the same in his SALn. No matter that even the SALn Law accommodates such
inaccuracies or inadvertence, if any, and can be corrected as needed.
The Clinton Verdict: Now, if two thirds of the Senate will support this view
for whatever reason, then goodbye to all the high minded principles embedded in
the entire impeachment process. By taking that route, the Senate shall have
elected to trivialize and politicize the process itself and any impeachable, let
alone elected, official down to the lowliest government employee will now have
to brace for the deluge.
As then US Sen. Arlen Specter said during the Clinton impeachment where the
former President was brought before the Senate on charges of perjury and
obstruction of justice "before Congress can exercise the power of removal there
has to be very, very heavy burden of proof."
Specifically, he noted that "the removal of an American President through
impeachment carries a high burden of proof and persuasion. For conviction in the
criminal courts on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice, the proof must
be beyond reasonable doubt. An extra measure of certainty is necessary to
persuade the Senate that the national interest mandates invoking the
extraordinary remedy of removing the President."
In like manner, to remove Corona on the basis of an inaccurate SALn
submission is to degrade this "extraordinary remedy for public accountability."
It is, in the words of a learned student of the law, making the same so
commonplace and pedestrian it need not even merit all the time, resources and
heartaches which we have been subjected to thus far. It makes a mockery of the
very constitutional injunction on the use of this extraordinary accountability
measure which reads "impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, graft
and corruption or other high crimes and misdemeanors."
We should not do this to ourselves and to our democracy.
As Specter advised: "Whether to impeach and convict... transcends the facts
and law to what is in the national interest at a specific time in the nation's
history on the totality of the circumstances."
Emphasizing the criticality of such a measure he intoned: "Is there a clear
and present danger to the integrity or stability of the national government or
whether the conduct is so vile or reprehensible as to establish unfitness for
office or whether the electorate has lost confidence in the President to the
extent that he cannot govern."
One final point.
Quite apart from the fact that the SALn entries are now being used (or should
we say misused) to hammer Corona into submission there is also the matter of
inadmissibility of the evidence submitted to indict him.
This issue has become central to the case in view of the earlier much
applauded testimony of Ombudsman Morales. Many believed that was the "last nail
on Corona's coffin."
As noted constitutionalist Father Joaquin Bernas the Ombdusman's testimony
while truly captivating may be inadmissible in this instance for a number of
reasons.
There is, for example, the matter of the release of the so-called accounts by
the Anti-Money Laundering Council which may be in breach of the very law which
created it.
Then there is the question of the "secrecy" of bank deposits governed by both
the Bank secrecy law and the Foreign Currency Deposit Act both of which have
placed very stringent requirements before such accounts can be accessed if at
all.
Finally, there is the question of whether the Ombudsman herself may have
exceeded her authority to "investigate" as provided for under the Constitution.
These are concerns which should not be taken lightly in the same manner that
executive overreach and the independence of the judiciary quite apart from the
matter of "separation of powers" should also be looked into with more than
passing fancy.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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