This article analyzes the recent political developments in the Philippines, focusing on the impact of the INC's stance on the impeachment proceedings and its implications for upcoming elections. It examines the changing landscape of political alliances and the potential consequences for key figures, including Lady Leila de Lima and Elizaldy Co.
Politics is the art of the possible, and what seemed possible then is impossible now. Lady Leila compares survey numbers versus numbers in rallies across the nation, the most prominent being the one at the Burnham Green and the entire Luneta. 41 percent out of 55 percent who were aware about the impeachment moves in the HoR is the real voice of the majority of Filipinos, or so she claims.
If a post-Luneta survey is done now, how would the 41 percent change? For one, many more are now aware of the moves to impeach the vice-president. Many more are aware that, as the INC leadership stated, they were supporting PBbM’s call to stop the impeachment, that “storm in a teacup” which only the highly literate understood before Luneta.And in a country where emotions prevail over reason, and “numbers” prevail over the rule of law, the lady de Lima can froth in her mouth while pressing on Congress to impeach, but clearly, her own “tide” has turned. For if we are to follow her twisted logic without judging the righteousness of her and her accomplices in pursuing accountability, were the numbers in EDSA Dos that dislodged a popularly elected president without proper Senate conviction in Jan. 2001 then right in thwarting the rule of law? If they say the INC followers were “ordered” to come to the Luneta and places beyond, how about the college students the Catholic schools “persuaded” to join the rally at the EDSA shrine that numbered a little over one hundred thousand in early 2001? We can all protest the tyranny of rally numbers, the “show of force” by the Iglesia, as the left and the so-called “progressive” political analysts claim in talk shows here and there, but the reality is that impeachment is now dead in the water. Even assuming a third of the easily bought House will yet sign to impeach, do they expect to succeed in the Senate? If prior to the INC move, one can count on the fingers of one’s left hand the Sara do-or-die loyalists, now you easily have all fingers of the right hand, even more, that would thwart conviction.So Elizaldy Co of the Co-Poe tandem that brought forth after little labor the “most corrupt budget in history” has been dethroned from the second most powerful position in the HoR. And the unkindest cut came from no less than the president’s son who moved that his post be declared vacant. No amount of post-facto reason about health problems will make anyone believe Elizaldy’s decapitation was not upon Malacanang’s instruction. Was it because he and his bi-cam caused the president so much anxiety, having to invent creative accounting to justify both Constitutional violation and egregious self-interests for and in behalf of his confreres in the two houses of pork? Was it because of rumors about a building in the ritzy 8th arrondissement of Paris, or a North Forbes mansion with three basement levels for a multitude of uber-expensive voitures or a helicopter that dwarfs the amenities of even the presidential “dragonfly”? Now the appropriations committee will be chaired temporarily by the “stellar” Marikina representative who wants to be mayor come May. Likely, with the few remaining session days, and with the most corrupt budget done for, it will be up to the next Congress to name Cong. Co’s replacement.As for the most strident vocalists and chairmen of the Quad Comm, what would their fate be in the forthcoming elections, especially those who come from districts where anywhere from 7 to 12 percent of the electorate are members of the bloc-voting INC? That’s plus AND minus in voting arithmetic.And for the first time since the American occupation, the governor of Laguna could come from my native San Pablo City in the third district instead of being the exclusive domain of the other districts. How about the “king of contempt,” would Albee Benitez’ money continue to support his party-list kingdom?The Comelec was ordered by the high tribunal to desist from its high-handed and capricious delisting of Egay Erice who is running to regain his Caloocan seat from an under-performing opponent. Now if the high Court could also rule on the clear legal infirmities of the sleight-of-hand manner by which the Comelec “invented” Miru, maybe we are not too hopeless after all
Philippine Politics Impeachment INC Elections Political Alliances Lady Leila De Lima Elizaldy Co
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