‘Truth is like a lion’
Until their crimson gowns begin to smell of their own vapors and are ready for the cleaners, that is how long the senator-judges in the impeachment court must, should, and are supposed to thoroughly hear the case against Vice President Sara Duterte. They cannot vote to dismiss before they have warmed their seats.
So let the impeachment trial begin. Sounds olympian, but why not? It will take brains, brawn, and brave hearts for the impeachment process to get going when the 20th Congress takes on the task at the end of the month. No looking back. The crowd in the arena will be watching.
But this is not a race or a game as we know it. It is a battle for the truth. Again, a favorite quote from Saint Augustine: “The truth is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. Let it loose. It will defend itself.” But letting loose the truth, as the members of the prosecution team from the House of Representatives (HOR) are tasked to do, is one thing; for the senator-judges to hear and hand down a just decision “though the heavens fall” is another. The one on trial will be judged either guilty or not guilty, and if guilty, must accept and live with the consequences.
On Accountability of Public Officials, Article XI, Section 3 (7) of the Constitution: “Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than removal from office and disqualification to hold any office under the Republic of the Philippines, but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to prosecution, trial and punishment according to law.” It ain’t over with conviction or acquittal. We have the courts, the Office of the Ombudsman.
Among the charges: alleged use of public funds as VP and education secretary; hiring an assassin and making a threat to assassinate the President, the First Lady, and the Speaker of the HOR; betrayal of public trust. “The severity of the charges leaves no room for technical evasion,” the prosecution said. “A trial is not only warranted but necessary to reinforce justice, uphold democratic principles, and affirm that no individual, regardless of rank and influence, stands above the law.”
Already, the VP has announced the names of her 16—16!—de campanilla defense lawyers, and, to borrow her own choice of words, a “bloodbath” it could be, as she had promised even while the prosecuting HOR bravehearts are ready to rumble. The recent behavior of most senator-judges who will hear the case could be described as—sorry to say—one of obduracy. The word obduracy “is a strong word for a strong form of stubbornness that resists change and persuasion” despite valid arguments or compelling reasons. It is different from mere obstinacy.
The last one of their acts—the 18 of them as against five—just before the recess was to “remand”/send back the articles of impeachment to the HOR for these to be certified as what—”virus free”? (A little sarcasm there.) Many observers view it as a patibong, a trap. We know what happens when you fall into a trap, a manhole or, worst of all, a kumunoy or quicksand. Death, delay, detour, dismissal.
“Who’s afraid of the impeachment trial?” sounds cliché, a flippant question often asked. Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David of the Caloocan archdiocese and president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said it plainly: “If there is nothing to hide, there is nothing to fear.”
But if there is something to hide, what is hidden must be laid bare for all to see. That is what the prosecution in the impeachment trial is supposed to lay bare, that is what the defense is supposed to counter or disprove. That is what the senator-judges are supposed to hear and examine. They are not supposed to vote to dismiss—like “anything is possible”—before hearing the case.
Fresh from the Vatican where he participated in the conclave that elected Pope Leo XIV, the cardinal issued a statement titled “A Call to Conscience and Duty” to remind the foot-dragging senator-judges: “The Senate of the Republic of the Philippines has a constitutional duty to act on impeachment cases brought before it. This duty is not optional. It is a solemn mandate arising from the principle of checks and balances enshrined in our democratic system … To delay, dismiss, or ignore such a process for reasons for political convenience is to betray the Constitution and the people’s trust.” Solemn—remember the word, as they would be treading on sacred ground.
To try/hear, expose, and hold accountable. The expose portion—here waits the lion. Should the majority of the senator-judges acquit because of technicalities or despite incontrovertible evidence, it might be hard for them to make peace with their individual consciences. Or so we think. But at least, the evidence would have been exposed; the roaring lion would have been let loose. There would be no going back to the cage. Off to heed the call of the wild.
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