Stealing the Opposition's Thunder
And so it begins!
GMA just announced the formation of the Truth Commission which was meant to appease the bishops in return for not demanding her resignation. But is it that simple? I previously suggested that the truth commission would be a Trojan horse against the President. It is the other way around.
The president has offered the Truth Commission as a venue for investigating vote fraud. Does this mean that the members are going to inspect each and every disputed election returns? If that is the case, how can the Truth Commission be a prelude to the impeachment case when it may take months for the members to cull through documentary evidences, not to mention testimonial evidences which may be genuine, spurious or planted. This is the classic "one step backward, two steps forward" strategy. Show flexibility by proposing the truth commission, at the same time muddle the public to believe that the truth commission is a necessary ingredient to impeachment. Or in the alternative, assuming the Truth Commission and the Impeachment Court co-existed, what happens to the commission if the senator-judges acquit the President in the impeachment case? Does it continue its mandate to investigate knowing that the President could no longer be tried twice for the same offense of vote fraud? And if it does, won't its findings be moot and academic? Like a been there, done that?
In the meantime, the President is supremely confident that whatever fraud that will be discovered will not be linked directly to her or will not alter the outcome of the election. The President has foreknowledge of the outcome. Otherwise, she would not have consented deliberately. Why the certainty? Because the wimpy members of civil society have vanished from her roost, the hawks have taken over counsel and there will be never be a second lapse of judgment. For all intents and purposes, this commission may suffer the same fate as the Agrava Commission.
And come SONA time, after the President shall have entered the halls of the Batasan, shaking the hand of Quisling who cut her deeply, counting and marking the many Brutuses in her midst with daggers concealed in their togas, she will deliver yet her finest and most dramatic State of the Nation Address of her presidency. She will announce a series of bloodletting by banishing people in government who are close to her husband, offer a hand of friendship to the opposition and to the Iscariots in attendance, advocate charter change that hardly resembles FVR's blueprint, state boldly that she is ready to dance to the impeachment tune, and promise that come hell or high water, she will lift high the Filipinos and their spirits from this ever present darkness. And to show her utmost sincerity, she will parade her Scutnicks to emphasize the the measure of her resolve.
Of course, these are all wishful thinking but not entirely remote. After all, while the President has lately been silent, brooding her every move, the opposition has been telegraphing their impeachment strategem to the public. This coming SONA, the President intends to steal the thunder from the opposition and when the battle lines are drawn, the opposition might find itself a spent force.
Where is the Grand Opposition that we used to hail? It is high time to conjure the spirits of Lorenzo Tañada, Joaquin Roces and Ninoy Aquino.
GMA just announced the formation of the Truth Commission which was meant to appease the bishops in return for not demanding her resignation. But is it that simple? I previously suggested that the truth commission would be a Trojan horse against the President. It is the other way around.
The president has offered the Truth Commission as a venue for investigating vote fraud. Does this mean that the members are going to inspect each and every disputed election returns? If that is the case, how can the Truth Commission be a prelude to the impeachment case when it may take months for the members to cull through documentary evidences, not to mention testimonial evidences which may be genuine, spurious or planted. This is the classic "one step backward, two steps forward" strategy. Show flexibility by proposing the truth commission, at the same time muddle the public to believe that the truth commission is a necessary ingredient to impeachment. Or in the alternative, assuming the Truth Commission and the Impeachment Court co-existed, what happens to the commission if the senator-judges acquit the President in the impeachment case? Does it continue its mandate to investigate knowing that the President could no longer be tried twice for the same offense of vote fraud? And if it does, won't its findings be moot and academic? Like a been there, done that?
In the meantime, the President is supremely confident that whatever fraud that will be discovered will not be linked directly to her or will not alter the outcome of the election. The President has foreknowledge of the outcome. Otherwise, she would not have consented deliberately. Why the certainty? Because the wimpy members of civil society have vanished from her roost, the hawks have taken over counsel and there will be never be a second lapse of judgment. For all intents and purposes, this commission may suffer the same fate as the Agrava Commission.
And come SONA time, after the President shall have entered the halls of the Batasan, shaking the hand of Quisling who cut her deeply, counting and marking the many Brutuses in her midst with daggers concealed in their togas, she will deliver yet her finest and most dramatic State of the Nation Address of her presidency. She will announce a series of bloodletting by banishing people in government who are close to her husband, offer a hand of friendship to the opposition and to the Iscariots in attendance, advocate charter change that hardly resembles FVR's blueprint, state boldly that she is ready to dance to the impeachment tune, and promise that come hell or high water, she will lift high the Filipinos and their spirits from this ever present darkness. And to show her utmost sincerity, she will parade her Scutnicks to emphasize the the measure of her resolve.
Of course, these are all wishful thinking but not entirely remote. After all, while the President has lately been silent, brooding her every move, the opposition has been telegraphing their impeachment strategem to the public. This coming SONA, the President intends to steal the thunder from the opposition and when the battle lines are drawn, the opposition might find itself a spent force.
Where is the Grand Opposition that we used to hail? It is high time to conjure the spirits of Lorenzo Tañada, Joaquin Roces and Ninoy Aquino.
posted by Edwin Lacierda | 11:37 PM
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