A very necessary impeachment!

When my good friend, Atty. Greco “Butch” Belgica filed a case of disbarment against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, I had a hunch that this was a long shot and last Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) en banc unanimously dismissed the disbarment complaint that Belgica filed. To remind you folks, it was Atty. Butch Belgica who filed that case of misuse of the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) and the Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) by the Aquino Regime with the SC, which was declared “unconstitutional.” So this defeat is a minor setback for Atty. Belgica.

But I can understand why Atty. Belgica filed that disbarment case against the Ombudsman because he believed that both the former President Benigno “PNoy” Aquino III and former Budget Secretary Butch Abad are deeply involved in the misuse of the DAP and PDAF… and the only way to prove their guilt was to file a case in our courts of law.

Way back in June 29, 2014, Manila Times columnist Rigoberto “Bobi” Tiglao wrote a full column entitled, “Biggest secret of all” Aquino’s P220 Billion Pork Barrel.” While this article was written four years into the Aquino Presidency, there was no investigation into this possible corruption case of monies in full control by one man, President Aquino. Yet his slogan was, “Kung walang corrupt, walang mahirap.” Surely, Mr. Aquino will be afforded the constitutional guarantee of innocence until his guilt is proven. But then what can we do if the Ombudsman already clears his name?

As far as the SC is concerned, they dropped the case filed by Atty. Belgica because the 1987 Constitution states that the ombudsman may only be removed from office on impeachment for violations of treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes or betrayal of public trust. Disbarment wasn’t mention so this is why the SC dropped this case. So the only option left for Atty. Belgica and Filipinos who are outraged over this misuse of public funds is to have the Ombudsman impeached!

This is the second time that the Ombudsman cleared Pres. Aquino without any investigation. If you recall at the height of the Mamasapano massacre, the Ombudsman suddenly cleared Pres. Aquino for no apparent reason. On these two issues alone, I support any move to have the Ombudsman impeached for obstruction to justice because this is what she really did, deny Justice to the Filipino people! This is a very necessary impeachment!

* * *

Pres. Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte has proposed that the Barangay and Sanggunian Kabataan (SK) polls be postponed and that the President be given the power to appoint Barangay and SK executives. But Pres. Duterte’s proposal has met a lot of flak, first amongst them comes from former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr. who authored the Local Government Code (LGC) who said that this proposal violates the purpose of the law creating the barangays and deny the people of their right to vote for their political leaders.

Nene Pimentel pointed out that if Barangay officials are appointed, “It will undermine the purpose of the LGC, which is meant to reduce the influence of the central government and empower the electorate on the barangay level.” I concur with the arguments of Nene Pimentel; however, we cannot deny the reality that there is a list that says 40 percent of our Barangay leaders are involved in the illegal drugs trade. Unfortunately, this list coming from Pres. Duterte has not yet made public.

While we are still a working democracy… however we live in difficult or extraordinary times and we have never heard of a figure of 3 million Filipinos who are hooked on illegal drugs and that if it is true that 40% of our Barangay execs are involved in the illegal drug trade, holding Barangay and SK polls would be a huge advantage to those who have the monies to fund their respective campaigns.

At this point, I suggest to Pres. Rodrigo Duterte that for the next few months he should shift gears in his war on his war on illegal drugs and should focus on those personalities within the Barangays who are in his list. Anyway that list needs to be verified or validated by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA). Shifting gears would eliminate a great number of those suspected Barangay officials who are really involved on illegal drugs and clear those who are not involved in drugs.

Meanwhile, both Senate President Koko Pimentel, III and House Speaker Pantaleon “Bebot” Alvarez has to meet in order to find a legal solution for Pres. Duterte to appoint Barangay execs. What is needed is a criterion or rules as to who can be appointed into positions in the Barangay. But that person should be prohibited from running in the next Barangay polls.

* * *

For email responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.