Call for sobriety

Speaker Jose de Venecia is doing everything humanly possible to avert a possible constitutional crisis in our government in light of the impeachment move of the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC) against Supreme Court Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. He is talking to both sides and working round the clock to facilitate an honorable way to resolve the conflict. This is the sensible thing to do under the circumstance and it jives in advancing the interest of our country and people. The blame game or finger- pointing should stop because it will not solve the problem. Instead, it behooves our political leaders to help support the initiative of the Speaker to succeed.

I have no competence to articulate about the legality of the case because I am not a lawyer. Nor will it be proper for me to second-guess what each side will do under the circumstance. But nevertheless, I believe that sensibility and statesmanship are needed to put out the fire in our backyard that could spread in our midst, and this is what Speaker de Venecia is attempting to accomplish.

From a distance, I believe that Danding Cojuangco is smart enough to realize and accept that the court of public opinion is running against him and his party for filing the impeachment case against Justice Davide. He is his own man. He has practically everything going his way – an undisputed leader of a political party he founded and control that has a significant following all over the country, and a colossal giant in business. Whether he will exercise his option to go-for-broke – which I hope not – is a $64 question. And in whatever direction his decision leads, I hope that he really has the interest of the country at heart and come out of the quagmire unscathed because he has also done positive things that have immensely benefited our country in the process.

Since Friday evening, I have been talking to as many people as I can when I learned about the NPC impeachment move in Congress against the Chief Justice. Nine out of ten persons I spoke with did not speak well about the action of the NPC. They were pointing their fingers to Danding as the real author of the impeachment move. The reasons are obvious. They pointed out that he is the founder and chairman emeritus of the NPC. They also alleged that the action of the NPC against the chief justice was motivated by the uncertainty of the forthcoming outcome of the Supreme Court ruling re Danding’s coco-levy fund case.

Not to be denied of my concern of course is Davide. He is a person who is perceived by the public with an impeccable integrity and who has made an immense contribution in returning the public trust in the government service. He has done a lot for the good of our country, and I believe he is an honest person.

It is hard to predict what is going to happen – whether he will face a Senate impeachment trial or not. But if there is such a trial, I believe that Justice Davide will be able to defend and clear himself of the graft and corruption case against him.

It is now twelve noon, and the window of opportunity to stop the Senate impeachment trial of the Chief Justice is becoming narrower by the hour. As for now, I ask again what Danding is up to, and what he wishes to gain out of the impeachment move of his party.

More than at any other time, the call is for sobriety on the part of the people who are deemed responsible for creating a constitutional crisis.

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