THE ACCUSED shall be presumed innocent until the contrary is proved.
So says the Constitution’s Bill of Rights. But the reverse seems to apply in the case of President Macapagal-Arroyo.
In the past few days, calls for the President’s resignation have become louder after she admitted talking to a Commission on Elections official during the canvassing of the 2004 elections. The President, however, denied she cheated.
As always, the opposition quickly took the admission against President Macapagal-Arroyo. Bayan Muna Party List Rep. Teddy Casiño even remarked that it is already the height of hypocrisy should one refuse to see that the President’s admission is already a confession of poll fraud.
Casiño’s statement, however, does not hold water. Talking to a Comelec official is one thing. Rigging the elections is another.
At this point, calling for the President’s resignation is still premature. A direct link connecting President Macapagal-Arroyo to any kind of electoral fraud has not been established. In short, the truth is yet to come out, be it actual or judicial truth.
Instead of asking the President to resign or starting civil disobedience, as ousted President Joseph Estrada suggests, all efforts should be concentrated on ferreting out the truth. The establishment of a “Truth Commission,” as suggested by UST and seconded by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, is more proper.
No amount of truth will come out if the House of Representatives will just continue hearing the “annotated” tapes provided by disgraced law-degree holder Alan Paguia, whose license to practice law was indefinitely suspended by the Supreme Court in 2003 for conduct unbecoming of a lawyer. A lot of our congressmen consider their political agenda and self-interest more important than national interest.
No amount of truth will come out if the people will just continue to flood the streets and ask the President to resign without thinking if they really want the President out of Malacañang.
The Constitution of the Republic must be respected at all times. Any attempt to remove the President from office must be done according to the fundamental law of the land, which means that impeachment is the only process independent of the will of President Macapagal-Arroyo. In this regard, the President’s accusers must adduce evidence to establish her guilt and strip her of power and immunity.
Through an impeachment case, the President will be able to argue her case and the other camp would be able to prove if the President is indeed guilty of an impeachable offense.
After all, as the CBCP said in its stand, “a just and political moral order is best promoted under the present circumstances by a clear and courageous preference for constitutional processes that flow from moral values and the natural law.”
In these trying times, the nation should unite and support the call for a Truth Commission and other non-violent and legal means to unearth the truth. Even if uniting and supporting this call would mean giving up contrary personal beliefs, it is of paramount concern that the truth and the rule of law prevail at the end of the day.
When the smoke clears, it doesn’t matter if you’re pro-Gloria or anti-Gloria, if you’re apolitical or apathetic. What is important is that the truth is uncovered and not muddled without the nation returning to the stone age.
