The president's call is it

There is one thing which a part of our society does not seem to understand. This segment of our people may be small but it includes me and my friend, Rudy Labis, so that, I shall use the pronouns we and us, hereafter. We do not fully realize why Her Excellency, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo is put to task for admitting that she called Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano during the election period. "What is wrong with the president's calling the commissioner if she only expressed concern on how to protect her votes?" is the question common to us. My friend asserts that the president could not call the barangay chairman of her area precisely because her problem involved the process of election. Rudy seems logical in claiming that the conversation alone between the president and her appointee, without evidence, as yet, that they planned to cheat, is not reprehensible! Here lies our misunderstanding.

The opposition is reported to be readying for the impeachment of Pres. Arroyo. From the bits of information that the opposition reports, Rudy and I are starting to comprehend the meanings of certain events. Primary in such preparation is an in-depth study into the act of the President Arroyo's calling Commissioner Garcillano. We begin to discern that the call is distinct from its contents. It is the mechanical act of making the calls, not the substance of the conversation, which deserves initial scrutiny. After all, the exposition by Atty. Sam Ong that Pres. Arroyo called Commissioner Garcillano, and not the contents of the said tape recording, ignited the fuse of this crisis.

In this direction, a characterization of the Commission on Elections is important. The Comelec, like the Civil Service Commission and the Commission on Audit, is a constitutional body. It is designed to be independent and the very intention for its being made a constitutional body is, in the words of Fr. Joaquin Bernas, an authority in constitutional law, "to protect it against outside influences and political pressures".

When, in 2001, then Vice Pres. Arroyo succeeded to the presidency from former Pres. Joseph Estrada, she swore, upon taking her oath, to "preserve and defend (the) constitution". Implicit in her vow was to insure that the independence of the Comelec from outside influences and political pressures would be preserved. Yet, in dire desecration of such oath of office, she bore upon the fragile shoulders of a Comelec commissioner the irresistible pressures of the office of the president.

That President Arroyo called Comelec Commisioner Garcillano is an admitted fact. She confessed to it publicly. Her admission, made very long after the exposé of Atty. Ong, during which gap, her office, I am sure, must have looked into all options available, betrayed how calculated her response was. The president, with all the powers at her disposal, had no viable alternative but acknowledge the truth. She could not hide the hideous fact of her making a call to an officer of a constitutionally independent body called the Commission on Elections.

There is little room to doubt that the telephone calls made by the president were culpable violations of the constitution. Her acts of her making the calls, constitute the impeachable offense. Fr. Bernas, citing the work of Aruego, said that "culpable violation of the constitution, must be understood to mean willful and intentional violation of the Constitution. According to those who made careful evaluations of the Garci tapes, the president called the commissioner 52 times. The number of her calls evinces willfulness.

Unquestionably, the calls made by the president related directly and materially to the work of the commission. This conclusion is inherent in the president's declaration that she did so to "protect her votes". Necessarily, her conversation tended to influence the act of the commissioner. If you were the commissioner, how else would you consider the 52 calls on you made by the president, the very person who appointed you to the commission? Aha, to Rudy and me, the president's call is it.