Political sabotage....

What's wrong with this picture?

Two days ago lawyer Oliver Lozano refiled last year's impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the very same one endorsed by the opposition.

No, it is not a new impeachment complaint. It is exactly the same one filed last year. Nothing more, nothing less. No, it wasn't reendorsed by the opposition as well. The endorsements affixed on the impeachment complaint are also those from last year.

Par. 5, Sec. 3 of Article XI of the 1987 Constitution prohibits the initiation of impeachment proceedings against the same official more than once within a period of one year. As a lawyer, Atty. Lozano without a doubt is aware of this. Yet he still went through and refiled the impeachment complaint.

Why? He gave the following reasons:

  • He wanted "to pre-eempt" threats of a coup d'état;

  • He did not want anyone to get ahead of him; and

  • He wanted to put a closure to political issues and controversies.

Is he out of his mind? What in blazes is he thinking? Is he some sort of attention junkie?

Not only did he not bother coming up with a new impeachment complaint, he resorted to recycling the signatures of last year's endorsers as well. He didn't even bother to get fresh endorsements. And despite the existing one year ban on initiating impeachment proceedings, he still insisted on going through with the refiling.

When asked why, the reasons he gave are mind-numbing, to say the least. Is he trying to be a hero? Is he trying to be the winner in a race to file an impeachment complaint first? Does he seriously believe that filing an impeachment complaint during the one year impeachment ban will give us the "closure" that we as a country so desperately need?

With this act of "political sabotage", Atty. Lozano is severely compromising the effectiveness of our established political processes in ascertaining the truth behind the allegations against President Arroyo, and possibly supplying the administration with fresh fodder with which to dodge a newer, more potent, and genuine impeachment complaint being readied by the opposition. No doubt some kiss ass administration solon would take advantage of this development in a few months time, more likely than not to question the efficacy and/or the legitimacy of a succeeding, authentic impeachment complaint to be filed by opposition forces. Unless, of course, someone would have the presence of mind to dismiss this complaint outright as a worthless scrap of paper in the absence of true endorsers.

There is some speculation that Atty. Lozano is a patsy of Malacañang. I don't know about you, but I'm starting to see a grain of truth in those allegations. Don't you?

I'd like to think that this is all new. But alas, we saw it happen last year. We're bound to see it this year as well, if we don't guard the process. We have to keep our eyes on the ball. We can't well afford a repeat of last year's brouhaha. I doubt it if the country would be able to take the strain again.

God help us all.

Quaere Verum.

Links:

Punzi's Corner Blog: Blog Lecture No. 6: Impeachment

Comments

categorically imperative said…
First it was good cop/bad cop...now it's a patsy. GMA's getting very creative!
January 17, 2006 11:02 PM
Ronald Allan said…
And things won't probably be changing in the forseeable future...
January 19, 2006 8:53 AM
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