"Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow, He who would search for pearls must dive below." - John Dryden
MANILA, Philippines - The impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona has become so personal, ugly, and emotional that the trial is tending to fracture or undermine vital institutions like massive mudslides or gigantic tsunamis.
Unless sobriety and conventional wisdom will intervene and prevail, the nation appears headed towards or sliding into a self-distruct mode that directly challenges the continued existence of the three co-equal branches of government as currently structured and performing.
The vital signs are ominously alarming.
To start with, will the Supreme Court, and the Judiciary as a whole, self-destruct?
Will the President, in view of his slapdash governance style and vindictive nature, also self-destruct should be fail in his reform agenda?
Will both Houses of Congress self-destruct for being superfluous, irrelevant, and ineffectual as a vehicle of reform?
First, while the Philippine judicial system leaves much to be desired with an embarrassing reputation for corruption, the Supreme Court itself in recent years has ceased to be homogeneous, uncompromising, and cohesive.
Since the impeachment of Chief Justice Corona, the schism among justices in the Bench has not only widened, but the chasm in the Chamber has also deepened, so to speak.
The High Court will self-destruct if it remains contentious and divided. It will degenerate into a vassal status, or as a subsidiary of the Office of the President.
Second, while President Benigno Aquino continuous to enjoy the adulation of the general public, and high satisfaction and approval hypes by biased opinion poll organizations, and sympathetic and influential print and television networks, President Aquino can equally self-destruct and fall from his pedestal. Popularity and mass hysteria can dwindle and evaporate overnight as we have witnessed the once awesome political popularity of President Ferdinand Marcos, Thailand's Thaksin Shinawatra, President Joseph Estrada, and the then Vice President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
While popularity is addictive and seductive, the "masa" can be fickle and unfaithful.
The same sad fate could befall President Aquino should be ever deviate from his straight and narrow path which has not thus far taken off.
His reform agenda has yet to fly.
Third, based on the performance and dynastic composition of the House of Representatives and the Senate, both Houses should either be padlocked, or radicalized, or transformed into a unicameral parliamentary system that will be directly and daily answerable to the people.
The weakness of the Presidential system is that candidates, once elected, are not accountable to the people until the next election.
Hence, this system is wasteful, parochial, decadent, and inefficient.
When all is said and done, the likely annexation of the Supreme Court and the dependence of the House of Representatives on the largesse and generosity of the Department of Budget and Management, and subservience to the dictates of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, make the road to serfdom and authoritarianism highly tempting and irresistible.
Concluding, if the Supreme Court should self-destruct because the Justices are not united and monolithic, and Congress traditionally follows the path of least resistance, as President Ferdinand Marcos had correctly predicted in 1972, President Benigno Aquino, with his control of Congress and popularity, can short-circuit and railroad reforms by resorting to emergency fiats in view of the worsening peace and order condition, criminality, high prices, especially fuel, corruption, and insurgency.
Needless to say, should President Benigno Aquino fail to transform society and exorcise the culture of corruption, he himself will self-destruct with consequences that are best left unspoken.
You be the judge
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(For comments and views please e-mail chaff_fromthegrain@yahoo.com.ph)
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