TWO-THIRDS of 24? Two-thirds of 21? With the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) investigating Alan Peter Cayetano’s SEA Games “kaldero”, will it be two-thirds of 20?
The issue of how to interpret the 2/3 vote required to convict an impeachable official has become a topic of debate because several senators face charges either in domestic or international courts. The arrest of Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta and the hiding of Bato Dela Rosa have left the Senate incomplete, with three of its members unable to function both as lawmakers and as impeachment judges.
The current composition of the Senate, including Estrada, Marcoleta and Dela Rosa, is the consequence of a rotten governance system that facilitates the easy access of traditional lawbreaking politicians into public service. Instead of being composed of members who truly represent the oppressed masses, the Senate is dominated by corrupt dynasts, fascist criminals, and compromising politicians who bend to the interest of select factions of the ruling class.
In fact, if corrupt senators were subjected to appropriate cases and detained, the Senate would no longer have enough members left to form a quorum and to continue functioning as a chamber: most if not all senators have been engaging in the corrupt practice of cornering infrastructure projects through the billions of Department of Public Works and Highways “allocables” for each senator. But as expected, the Marcos Jr. administration is selectively applying the law on identified pro-Duterte members of the Senate.
Hence, while it is in the best interest of the Filipino people that the Senate convict the impeached vice president Sara Duterte, and while we call on the Senate to proceed with the impeachment trial until it reaches a decision to convict Sara Duterte, the current Senate cannot be expected to hold to account the biggest fish in the flood control corruption scheme — no other than the sitting president Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The Senate is complicit in upholding the bureaucrat capitalist system that treats public wealth as a treasure chest for private looting. When institutions across all branches of government are filled with officials who collude to go after targeted factions of the elite while maintaining bureaucratic corruption schemes, the people have no recourse but to expose the utter dysfunction of the justice system and accountability mechanisms in place.
In order for us to effectively impose judgment upon all erring politicians and dynasties, we must unite and vigorously struggle to end the bureaucrat capitalist system that has been shielding and breeding corrupt officials. We must replace this system with a political-economic alternative that transfers institutionalized power from domestic elites and foreign masters toward the majority of the Filipino people. Only then can we put in place reliable mechanisms to check leaders in power. – ELMER FORRO, secretary-general, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Panay <bayanpanay2014@gmail.com>
