TruthCom created to fish for evidence

POSTSCRIPT By Federico D. Pascual Jr. (The Philippine Star) Updated December 16, 2010 JUST FILE IT!: Malacañang and its Yellow Army deployed in media, the blogsphere, the kaffee klatches and the opinion poll business are confusing the population. I must complain because the incessant mind-bending is giving us a king-size headache. If it is true, as the yellow propaganda goes, that the conquering horde has truckloads of evidence nailing down former President Arroyo to charges of corruption and other high crimes, why delay the moment of truth by going first on a fishing expedition? If there is solid evidence, as claimed, Palace lawyers should lose no time filing the proper charges — and redeeming promptly the campaign promise of President Noynoy Aquino — instead of lobbing into our midst that distraction called Truth Commission. * * * LEGAL ISSUE: I am talking here, of course, as a non-lawyer straining to catch a glimmer of legal brilliance among the clutch of lawyers surrounding the six-month-old President. The issue before the Supreme Court is legal, not political. The tribunal’s final ruling on the validity of the creation of the TruthCom depends on what the Constitution and the statutes say, not on who appointed which justice hearing the case. Which president appointed which SC justice on the bench is totally irrelevant. Harping on that extraneous point betrays a paucity of legal arguments. If the question of the TruthCom’s validity were political, not legal, the Court would be the wrong venue. But whatever public opinion evolves from the debate in the market and the media will have no bearing on the core constitutional issue before the Court. * * * OTHER AVENUES: An over-eager Palace lawyer leaked out his bright idea, instead of waiting for the President to weigh it, that the work of the TruthCom can be legally entrusted to the Presidential Commission on Good Government. Of course it can be. In fact, with greater reason, it can also be given to the Ombudsman, whose office is mandated by the Constitution itself to go after crooks in government. The task can also be given to the Department of Justice, which can look into outstanding complaints and decide to endorse them to the Ombudsman. For that matter, if any taxpayer not used to the intricacies of the legal system knows of some crime committed by former president, now congresswoman, Gloria Arroyo, he/she can go to the nearest police station and start the buildup of a complaint. To fight graft, a so-called Truth Commission standing on shaky legal grounds is not the only, nor is it the best, sumbungan ng bayan. A disgruntled taxpayer can even seek out Mon Tulfo and be assured of more prompt and firm follow-up. * * * ‘I TRIED’: The truth of the matter is that the Truth Commission, with a P83-million budget, is not urgently necessary. This political tool grafted to the Office of the President — a fact that casts doubt on its objectivity and fairness — is a superfluity. This Executive creation encroaches on the functions of agencies constitutionally mandated to go after big-time grafters. It just so happened that then President Arroyo (who was not running for reelection) was set up during the last campaign as the epitome of all evil to make more blinding the clean record of presidential candidate Noynoy Aquino. Now elected, Aquino has to make good his promise to jail the evil one, by whatever means resembling due process. With the Supreme Court having slapped down his Truth Commission, at least Aquino can say “Look, I tried, but the Supreme Court swarming with Arroyo appointees would not let me.” * * * FATAL DEFECT: After the Supreme Court slapped down his very first Executive Order as unconstitutional, close on the heels of other executive initiatives that had been similarly rejected as legally defective, what is President Aquino to do? Presidential legal experts have been busy stamping out the scattered legal bush fire threatening to grow into a full-blown forest fire. One of them said they could rewrite EO-1 to cover all past administrations, including that of Emilio Aguinaldo of the First Republic. While the remark reeks of the sarcasm of one disturbed in his tower of power, it has merit since the Supreme Court said EO-1 as worded zeroes in on just the administration of Gloria Arroyo in violation of the equal protection clause in the Constitution. Expanding its scope, even with the mere addition of the latter “s” to “administration” to include all past regimes, may cure the defect, but it does not change the fact that as it is now worded, EO-1 is defective. Rewriting it is an admission of the fatal flaw. * * * MERGER WITH PCGG: Comes now another Palace lawyer suggesting that the substantial task of the TruthCom be added to the job order of the PCGG. Executive Order No. 1 of Mr. Aquino’s mother, then President Cory Aquino, creating the PCGG says the President may from time to time give the commission more related cases to investigate and act upon. It looks so simple: President Aquino ordering the PCGG to look into unexplained wealth of the Arroyo family and to seize or sequester those found to be manifestly out of proportion to the Arroyos’ legitimate earnings while in office. Assuming that could be done, again that will be a humiliating retreat — something that persons with high pride are incapable of doing. It will be an admission that EO-1 is infirm and could be salvaged by merging its function with the PCGG. * * * ePOSTSCRIPT: Read past POSTSCRIPTs at www.manilamail.com. E-mail feedback to fdp333@yahoo.com