Numbers game politically risky - GOTCHA By Jarius Bondoc

Everybody but his mayor-wife seems to know where Central Luzon jueteng lord Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda is.

He’s crashing in with friends in Los Angeles county’s small Carson City, where Filipinos comprise almost a fifth of residents. Nights, he’s out with the boys at nearby Long Beach, where he fetes them with whisky and cognac, and casino money. He’s planning sidetrips to Las Vegas and Chicago. Of course, he’s in no hurry to fly home to Lubao, Pampanga – not with Chavit Singson’s jueteng exposé rocking the government.

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Only ten days ago at the start of Singson’s exposé, Malacañang was downplaying talk of impeachment. "It’s preposterous to impeach based on lies," presidential spokesman Dong Puno said of Singson’s testimony on jueteng payoffs to Joseph Estrada. Now, with civic and church leaders crying for resignation, Malacañang itself is taunting opposition congressmen to go ahead and file an impeachment case. The change of heart is not so much because of Puno’s advice that "everybody follow the constitutional process." It’s not unconstitutional for a President to step down. The new tack has more to do with Malacanang having its numbers down pat.

Ruling LAMP congressmen brag that they have the numbers to quash any impeachment case right from the start. Once the case is referred to the justice committee, they’ll vote it down through sheer party majority, even if opposition Lakas member Pacifico Fajardo is chairman. If they fall short of numbers in case Lamp partymen get hit with pangs of conscience, they’ll call in the rules committee, whose members can sit and vote in other committees. And when the justice committee reports the voting to the floor, they’ll again muster party loyalty to crush the case. It will take one-third of the House – 73 of 218 congressmen – to impeach. Lakas has only 29 members; even if 11 Liberals join them, Lamp will still prevail.

LAMP senators say there’s not even enough time to hear the case. Upon filing today, the case has ten session days to be included in the House Order of Business, and ten days thereafter to be referred to the justice committee. The committee has 60 session days to study the case, and the House has ten days thereafter to vote on the committee report. Yet Congress has only 55 session days left before closing for the May 2001 election campaign, which starts in March, not to mention the usual long Christmas break. And even if the House breaks its usual snail-pace record and miraculously votes post-haste to impeach, LAMP senators can drag their feet in hearing the case. The Constitution does not bind them to a time line, only to a voting number – two-thirds – to convict.

But party and day numbers may not play to LAMP’s advantage in a game where public opinion is at stake. Surveys show that more people believe Singson than contrary claims of Estrada and his gambling buddy Atong Ang. And that’s just on the jueteng issue. Other counts have been consolidated with it for impeachment: The BW Resources stock market manipulation, sweepstakes fund diversion, Cabinet luxury vans, textbook and firetruck scandals, Estrada’s failure to disclose personal wealth, and his sons’ alleged undisciplined abuses. Dragging the case in Congress would only bring to light gory details of Estrada’s activities, lifestyles, families and friends. It would not only further erode confidence in government or scare investors away, but also make Lamp partymen think twice if they can win in the May elections with an albatross called Erap tied to their necks. They’re not even sure if Estrada will go out and campaign for them, since he hasn’t even been facing the public lately.

It is for this reason that impeachment endorsers from Lakas are advising their LAMP counterparts to cross party lines. And knowing how politically vulnerable Lamp members are, Malacanang has come up with the truly preposterous line that penniless Lakas has a P1-billion warchest to pay each congressman P10 million to sign up for impeachment.

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INTERACTION. Joey Catama, edsamail.com: Pity the poor that Erap said he’ll help (Gotcha, 16 Oct. 2000). He’s helping himself to their hard-earned money. It’s the poor who play jueteng.

Dexter Meniola, hotmail.com: If Singson’s allegation is true, then Malacañang is robbing poor Filipinos of P10 million per month for mistresses.

Renato V. de Leon, Erap’s announcement to pull government out of gambling evades the issue. The public wants him to resign because they believe what Singson said is true.

Donato Magalang, Tondo, Manila: I appeal to the conscience of senators and congressmen (Gotcha, 14 Oct. 2000). For once, use power entrusted to you by the people for the good of the people. They are suffering under the present regime. Return decency and integrity to government.

Leila Dira, fil.net: Dong Puno’s statement – "long in rhetoric but woefully short on evidence" – applies more to his claim that Erap is guiltless than to Singson’s testimony (Gotcha, 11 Oct. 2000).

Manny Leno, yahoo.com: Erap’s staunchest supporter once fired off this press release in Dec. 1997: "Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad today said an overwhelming support for public morality as a central issue in the 1998 election has for all intents and purposes ended the Erap myth as an alleged darling of the masses. An overwhelming majority of the rural population of Mindanao have expressed support for Tatad’s campaign for public morality as central issue in the elections, according to a survey conducted during most of last month . . . ."

Willie Vicedo, Carson, Ca.: If Tatad is so eager to punish Tito Guingona for a speech on Erap’s jueteng payola, what will he do with John Osmeña and Tessie Oreta who admitted receiving money from Singson?

Alvin Casuga, edsamail.com: Fred Lim says that with jueteng thriving, legalizing it via Bingo-2 Ball is a lesser evil. Why not legalize narcotics then?

Thank you, Geizi Llanes, Avelino Javier, Jameson Mappala, Angel Balauitan, Nilo Orocio, Jim Virtusio, Jototoy, Joseph Epistola, Francis Olegario, Jake Botardo, Russell Tolentino, Samuel Lim, Joey Tandoc, Rodel Ocampo, V.X. Ampil, Al Acosta, Danilo G.M., Atty. Robert Chuan, Adom Macarambon, Raymond Egay, Jet Nera, Edwin Bellen, Elbert Herrera, Emcel Schlag. Keep those letters coming.

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YOUR COMPUTER. Dell Computers has announced a voluntary recall of around 27,000 batteries used in a variety of its notebook computers. The batteries can potentially short-circuit, heat up quickly, and begin to smoke or catch fire. More on this in cnn.com/tech.

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