Good Congressmen to Expose Evil Chief Justice?

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Edmund Burke

In just a wink of an eye, the quote by Edmund Burke which I heard in a TV station who happens to own a monopoly of business in our country, ironically enough it was the same week that a group of Congressmen of this nation delivered their statements on TV stating that they already impeach a very corrupt, irresponsible and unqualified Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, in the person of Renato Corona. The Burke quotation and the statement of these Congressmen did not collide in my mind until I started thinking about a part of the statements, that not only was the most ridiculous statement a person could ever make but perhaps one of the most dangerous statements ever spoken.

Democracy aside, there were a couple of things on the Congressmen’s statements that have to be noted. On one hand, the Congressmen was welcome and applauded by the people on who really likes to kiss their ass for the reason of survival, but still in their statements they terrorized the judicial branch of the government, as well as the dignity of their chamber where they are elected, whereby the magical impeachment case which I called as the CORONA PHENOMENON was expeditiously signed by 188 Congressmen, in record time, without any due process and deliberation, the Chief Justice was impeached in the House of Representatives, in the most horrible fashion I have ever witnessed on media. They were insulting, rude and demeaning to a forum wherein the advocacy itself is focus on promotion of justice and triumph of good over evil.

On the other hand, Congressmen made a few statements that made me pause and think. The statement manifesting that the impeachment process is a healthy practice of democracy to the Filipino people. Nothing new here, we all knew that. And while he was somewhat polite in his approach on the subject it was not news. Other factors of their statements worth noting is when they stated that them and their country, will not wait to be given the tools needed to have an objective and clean justice system. My shocking thoughts, what is their authority and wisdom to come up with such a statement. They believe that it is their right to develop and progress like every other nation in the world. The President for them deserves to appoint a Chief Justice that will truly work for the development of the nation.

Another noteworthy moment was when the leader of the Congressmen discussed the merit and evidences of the impeachment, even if the Senate impeachment court is not yet convene to start hearing the case, as if this Congressman, who according to the Senate President must study law further. Maybe such early presentation of evidence would mindset the people thru media that the Chief Justice is indeed guilty. The fact that the defense panel is a group of high caliber lawyers, not to mention the petitions of independent minded lawyers to stop the impeachment process based on irregularities and technicalities.

But still with the tough tasked to face this 188 Congressmen stand on their ground that eloquently understand the eight grounds for impeachment, enumerated as follows:

I. Respondent betrayed the public trust through his track record marked by partiality and subservience in cases involving the Arroyo administration from the time of his appointment as Supreme Court justice which continued to his dubious appointment as a midnight chief justice and up to the present.

II. Respondent committed culpable violation of the Constitution and/or betrayed the public trust when he failed to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth as required under Section. 17, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution.

III. Respondent committed culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayed the public trust by failing to meet and observe the stringent standards under Article VIII, Section 7 (3) of the Constitution that provides that “[A] member of the judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence” in allowing the Supreme Court to act on mere letters filed by a counsel , which caused the issuance of flip-flopping decisions in final and executory cases; in creating an excessive entanglement with Mrs. Arroyo through her appointment of his wife to office; and in discussing with litigants regarding cases pending before the Supreme Court.

IV. Respondent betrayed the public trust and/or committed culpable violation of the Constitution when it blatantly disregarded the principle of separation of powers by issuing a “status quo ante” order against the House of Representatives in the case concerning the impeachment of then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

V. Respondent committed culpable violation of the Constitution through wanton arbitrariness and partiality in consistently disregarding the principle of res judicata and in deciding in favor of gerrymandering in the cases involving the 16 newly-created cities, and the promotion of Dinagat Island into a province.

VI. Respondent betrayed the public trust by arrogating unto himself, and to a committee he created the authority and jurisdiction to improperly investigate an alleged erring member of the Supreme Court for the purpose of exculpating him. Such authority and jurisdiction is properly reposed by the Constitution in the House of Representatives via impeachment.

VII. Respondent betrayed the public trust through his partiality in granting a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo in order to give them an opportunity to escape prosecution and to frustrate the ends of justice, and in distorting the Supreme Court decision on the effectivity of the TRO in view of a clear failure to comply with the conditions of the Supreme Court’s own TRO.

VIII. Respondent betrayed the public trust and/or committed graft and corruption when he failed and refused to account for the judiciary development fund (JDF) and special allowance for the judiciary (SAJ) collections.

Here is where the evil comes in. If they are really good people that do something so that evil will not triumph, I just like to ask back the questions to them about the grounds of betrayal of public trust.

• Who among these 188 so-called good Congressmen did not practice midnight appointment among their preferred people, when they were not yet legislators, when they were heads of executive departments, GOCCs, Local Government officials?
• Who among these 188 so-called good Congressmen disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth as required under Section. 17, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution?
• Who among these 188 so-called good Congressmen is a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and independence?
• Who among these 188 so-called good Congressmen is really independent and cannot be influence by the leadership of the executive department?
• Who among these 188 so-called good Congressmen is not receiving kickbacks and commissions from contractors when they are utilizing their Pork Barrel?
• Who among these 188 so-called good Congressmen have bought their houses, cars, condominiums, out of their own sweat and not thru corruption?
• Who among these 188 so-called good Congressmen did not lobby for a TRO in the judicial department on some cases involving their men and close relatives?
• Who among these 188 so-called good Congressmen did not lobby for positions in the executive department to designate their people in vital offices?

If all these 188 so-called good Congressmen would answer NO, then I say, go on with advocacy, clean this Nation, and save us from evil men? On the other hand, when these 188 so-called good Congressmen signed the impeachment complain, there was an outburst of laughter from the few principled Filipino. The educated body of people who read the complaint knew the absurdity of the statement but the numerous laughter didn’t take into account the ramifications of the whole thought.

Now how does the theater of good men step up and take a stand for the people in our nation who cannot stand up for themselves. The 188 Congressmen of this country cannot face their own mirror before filing a complaint. We pray that the citizens of our country can set themselves free of such narrow minded and uneducated thinking of our some elected Congressmen. And we must pray that many will not suffer under the regime of self-interest before national interest. Perhaps evil will triumph when good men cannot do anything through no fault of their own but through the fault of those in power who reject reason and wisdom. History has shown us these before in the leadership of demented and closed minded dictators of the past.But, the question is, do we still have a Good Men in the Government that will do something so that evil will not triumph. Face the mirror and ask yourself.