What is happening to the country today brings forth more questions. Why are there impeachment complaints against President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo?
Destabilization rumors are attempts of the opposition—mainly the Yellowtards—to return to power. My gulay, we have a vice president too eager to become President just in case the electoral protest case she is facing prospers!
The impeachment case against the President, while coming from a party-list representative from the Magdalo group of Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, is a perfect example of moves by the political opponents of Duterte. We know full well it will not succeed. The House of Representatives has a super majority beholden to the President.
So why are the Yellowtards in a hurry? They have had six years in power and they squandered it. The resounding victory of President Duterte last year very clearly says the people would have no more of the Yellow brand of politics.
Actually, the issue highlights a flaw in the Constitution. We always have a president who has a vice president belonging to a different political party.
This is not the way it is in the American system.
This is the reason the Philippines is now inflicted by the desire of a vice president to become president, too soon. It is hypocritical on the part of Robredo to say she has no desire of becoming president. Why do you think she is making all these noises?
Congress should look hard at the Constitution and consider bringing back the system of block voting for president and vice president. We talk of reforming the fundamental law —well, here is one aspect that must be changed. We need to get rid of the system where the two top officials of the land are not on the same page insofar as the best interests of the country are concerned.
Another anomaly in the 1987 Constitution is the party-list system. The idea is to have marginalized sectors of society be represented in Congress. But who are actually there? Many of them represent the elite, if not political dynasties!
I can cite many other flaws of the Constitution. I wish though we could return to the two-party system so that people can have very clear choices. What we have now only leads to more confusion.
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I heard President Duterte say that when he gets a whiff of corruption by his own appointees, he does not hesitate to fire them.
Recall that he fired two of his fraternity brothers at the Bureau of Immigration and his campaign spokesman at the National Irrigation Administration. Now, another of his appointees, Philippine Coconut Authority Avelino Andal, has been suspended pending investigation into allegedly shady dealings.
All these are good but I think Mr. Duterte can really show us he is serious in the fight against corruption if he acts on the allegations that Environment Secretary-designate Regina Lopez committed graft and corruption.
Lopez is accused of going on a trip to Paris courtesy of a friend seeking something from the Department of Energy.
No less than the business development officer who facilitated the junket filed the charge!
The issue is that Lopez accepted gifts from a private company in exchange for a favor that secured for the firm a multi-million peso government contract. The charge is that Lopez received an all-expense paid trip to Paris amounting to 38,380 euros or P2.05 million, in exchange for using her influence as DENR secretary to speed up the approval of the French friend’s solar farm project in Zamboanga.
Given this, the President really has no reason to reappoint Lopez to his Cabinet since she has been bypassed anyway by the Commission on Appointments.
Mr. President, prove to us that nobody is above the law.
