Plans for her legal immunity Isagani A. Cruz Philippine Daily Inquirer
July 05, 2009
THE REASON for GMA’s present ambition should be obvious. It is to insure herself against civil and criminal liability once she loses legal immunity with the end of her term as President of the Philippines. That is why she hopes to be a member of the contemplated parliament and as such be appointed prime minister and head of the new government by previous arrangement with the president who shall be only a ceremonial official. Or so she believes.
Her plan depends on a number of probabilities that she considers absolute certainties written for her by the hand of heaven. This is the conversion of the Congress into a constitutional assembly consisting only of the House of Representatives should the Senate refuse to participate in what it might call a constitutional heresy. The lower House argues that according to Art. XVII, Sec. l (1) of the fundamental law itself, any amendment or revision of the Constitution may be proposed by “the Congress, upon a vote of three-fourths of all its Members,” who could all come from the House of Representatives. The Senate refutes that as legal partner with the House of Representatives in a bicameral legislature, neither chamber can act alone to the exclusion of the other as best exemplified by the basic function of lawmaking which is performed generally by separate deliberation of the two Houses but aimed at a common decision, affirmative or not, of Congress.
The debate would not exist at all if the Constitution had followed the caution it displayed in Art. VI, Sec, 23(1) when it provided that “the Congress, by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses in joint session assembled, voting separately, shall have the sole power to declare the existence of a state of war.” There are other extra-careful provisions. The laxity of the Constitutional Commission in not correcting the ambiguity of Art. XVII, Sec. I(I) will eventually have to be considered by the Supreme Court but not, let us hope, as a political question it cannot decide.
In the unlikely event that the Supreme Court will sustain the position taken by the House of Representatives, its members will have a free hand in establishing a parliamentary system, with the loosening of economic controls against foreigners as appetizer. But the replacement of the present government will be the principal objective, with GMA as the prime minister, and head of the new government, enjoying the same legal immunity that now protects her as President of the Philippines. She will retain such power as prime minister and head of the government, provided the proposed change in light of her new status is understood and accepted by the people in the required plebiscite.
The proponents of the change in government, but not the head thereof, seem so sure that their scheme will be readily accepted by the people. That is a wild certitude, considering the widespread opposition to the proposed Prime Minister Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in her wildest dreams. Her dreams may be imbecilic but not impossible. They can be possible with absurd techniques that made her victory believable in 2004, like the Garci tapes and the P728-million fertilizer fund, and other scandals like the NBN-ZTE contract that she had to go to China to cancel personally to the disappointment of the “greedy people + +” and the husband she left behind while still recovering from a near-fatal surgery.
The plebiscite having been purchased with suspected persuasion, the next step in the GMA plan is to win as a plain member of the new parliament. She will win despite her unpopularity with her province mates because of her special ties to some of them who have plenty of campaign funds derived from jueteng profits and quarry collections. Thus endowed as MP Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, she will be, as planned, the prime minister of the new government, and still immune from the civil and criminal liability she could avoid while still President.
Are these extraordinary liabilities dismissible in the optimistic plans of the fortunate Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo who has successfully evaded the pains and penance that have punished other leaders who have committed lesser indignities on their oppressed peoples?
Will she still be free from legal prosecution for the faults she is alleged to have done against the Filipino nation during her term as President?
Obviously, yes, as long as she is prime minister under the revised Constitution even as she is still legally immune now as President under the present Constitution. It is like changing musical chairs for the same incumbent, and what is worse is that she may hold it indefinitely, unlike Marcos who enjoyed the same privilege for life that ended soon enough. GMA appears to be more durable, like wild grass, and may continue to hold the office of prime minister forever, with the unquestioning support of her dependent flunkies as long as they receive their pork barrel on time.
And what will happen to the senators, and especially the president to be chosen in the elections scheduled in May of next year, if these are to be held at all? They better consult President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who seems to have planned everything.
