Impeachment may do us good

ON DISTANT SHORE
By Val G. Abelgas

The Corona Impeachment Court (File Photo)

Somebody should call the dare of President Aquino to impeach him. Although it is close to impossible that his partners in crime in Congress would vote to impeach, much less convict him, filing an impeachment complaint would at least put on record that there was an attempt to remove him.

At the same time, people would know how strong the criminal partnership between the members of Congress and Malacanang by how fast the congressmen would dismiss the complaint. Besides, money would most probably flow again from the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) to the congressmen and that would help “ramp up spending to spur the economy” in the words of Budget Secretary Florencio Abad. Wouldn’t that be good for the economy and the people? Unless, of course the money gets lost again in the “daang matuwid.”

Aquino defended the DAP by saying that he had just read the Constitution and a provision gives him a legal basis to disburse billions of pesos in government savings left unspent by various government agencies. Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda and deputy spokesperson Abigail Valte, at the same time, cited Article VI, Section 25 and sub-paragraph 5 of the Constitution and portions of the Administrative Code as the legal basis for the conversion of the government savings.

The President and his two spokespersons, who are both lawyers, was reacting to a statement by former Sen. Joker Arroyo that the DAP was “patently illegal.”

“Twenty-four years after it was enacted (Administrative Code), it’s now being used for a patently illegal program. Why is this administration so aggressive to use it without regard for guidelines or standards? The four Presidents [before him] never used it,’’ said Arroyo, was executive secretary of Aquino’s mother, the late President Cory Aquino.

But Arroyo said the DAP was illegal because its creation was never authorized by Congress or by law. He said Malacanang officials should be haled to court because the DAP is “worse than the PDAF (Priority Development Assistance Fund) because there is no law.”

Two legal experts – San Beda Graduate School of Law dean Fr. Ranhilio Aquino and Ateneo College of Law Dean Emeritus Fr. Joaquin Bernas – agreed with Arroyo that Aquino acted illegally in diverting government savings to projects identified by congressmen.

“I find it hard to believe that Palace spokespersons Edwin Lacierda and Abigail Valte cited the provisions they did in supposed support of DAP and other presidential (mis)uses of public funds,” Fr. Aquino said in a statement. “It surprises me, in fact, that an attempt was even made to use these totally inapplicable provisions to defend an indefensible position.”

Fr. Aquino asked: “What business did the President have releasing DAP to members of the Legislature?” He added: “Leonor Briones, former national treasurer, has been right all along in insisting that there is something constitutionally amiss about members of Congress identifying projects and having them funded out of allocations to them, as individual members of the legislature. This is not the power of the purse. This is the illegal power to dip one’s hands into the purse,” Aquino said.

“I am not saying that the President should be impeached, or that he should even be charged, but if the chief justice was ousted from the highest office in the Judiciary for a misstatement of SALN [statement of assets, liabilities and net worth], I ask: [Is the] misuse of public funds in this manner… not a much more serious offense?”

Bernas said the Constitution provides that Congress may authorize the President to transfer savings from the departments to augment approved projects only in the same department.

Now, between Aquino and his spokespersons, on one hand, and the two legal giants and brilliant lawyer Joker Arroyo, on the other, it’s not difficult to agree with the latter.

The brouhaha about the DAP’s legality began with the expose of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in a privilege speech that senators received P50 million additional pork allocation after the Senate convicted Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. It was also later revealed that the congressmen who voted to impeach Corona got P10 million to P15 million additional pork, some of them getting their share on the same day that they signed the impeachment complaint without even reading it on December 12, 2011.

Aquino denied that the additional funds, which were confirmed by Abad and Senate President Franklin Drilon, were bribes to entice the congressmen and senators to impeach and convict Corona, saying the fund release was made in October, several months after the conviction in February. “Meron bang bribe after the fact?” he asked to which Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago retorted: “Bribe can be made before, during and after the fact.”

Defensor, Arroyo and Sen. Bongbong Marcos, who were the only ones who voted to acquit Corona, didn’t get the additional pork. Sen Ping Lacson, who has consistently refused to make use of his pork barrel funds, again did not partake of the largesse.

For illegally releasing billions of pesos in government savings to congressmen and senators, Aquino is liable for impeachment based on two impeachable offenses: culpable violation of the constitution and bribery.

But Aquino should be impeached for lying to the people. He said he would be different from his disgraced predecessor, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, but his “wang wang” declaration proved to be just for show and he was no different from Arroyo as far as misusing the people’s taxes is concerned. In fact, he even increased both his pork allocation and that of senators and congressmen, which are apparently being spent not for the improvement of people’s lives but for a “more cordial” relation with Congress. And because he could not be cordial with the Arroyo-appointed Corona, he decided to use the pork barrel funds to make Congress do what he wanted. Now, there are even allegations from his aunt, former Tarlac Gov. Tingting Cojuangco, that he was involved in poll fraud in the 2013 senatorial elections.

An impeachment complaint against Aquino may not go past Congress doors, but people will certainly take notice. And maybe Aquino would take heed and decide to straighten his increasingly winding “daang matuwid” for the rest of his term.

(valabelgas@aol.com)