“From “papalagan” to “hayaan na lang”?”
At first, the President reacted strongly through a scripted television appearance the day after his Vice-President cursed and threatened him, his wife and his first cousin, the Speaker.
Showing little emotion in his tired face, the President unequivocally said that such a “criminal” threat should not be allowed to pass. “Iyan ay aking papalagan,” he declared, uncharacteristic for the conflict-averse president. It’s only when the Americans assure him they have his back that he rares for conflict.
The President’s scripted appearance was followed by a string of statements issued by several members of the House of Representative denouncing Inday Sara, including a disbarred Mindoreno filing a disbarment case before the Supreme Court.
“Impeach her!”, shouted their mob, led by someone convicted for child abuse by a Tagum court. Forthwith, noises about imminent impeachment became cacophonous.
In our regular Thursday Group lunch, that “impeachment” was the hot topic. No one disputed its likelihood, because impeachment and final conviction is a political trial, not one where preponderance of evidence negates reasonable doubt. As it was in the late Justice Corona, so it could be in the case of Inday Sara. The Erap trial was aborted not by conviction, but by a walk-out that preceded what history chronicles as EDSA Dos.
Our discussions centered first on the timing. Kaya pa ba? Will we be robbed of holiday cheer because everyone’s eyes would be glued to the Senate trial?
“If there’s a will, it can be done. They will file next week, impeach her by a near unanimous number in the House, then the Senate could proceed to trial,” said a retired politician.
A source whose ears are on the “sacred” grounds of Roxas Boulevard claimed to have been told that “she will be impeached before Trump becomes POTUS on January 20.”
We also made a headcount of the current members of the Senate who would be the judges in an impeachment trial. Two-thirds of them need to convict her.
The hardcore support of Inday Sara is just four. Those who could be pressured because of vested interests and soft support were around seven to eight. How much persuasion needs to be applied by the powers that be to ensure she does not get relief from eight senators?
Then, just after the roast turkey was devoured, breaking news from Tunying Taberna came. The President, he claimed, had sent instructions to Congress not to pursue impeachment, for “Sara is unimportant.” It was not the kind of message one would send to a first cousin who leads the House.
But the day after, the President affirmed that Taberna’s scoop was authentic. Which brings a curious mind to wonder if such elegant language is how the President addresses his first cousin. Or was it a message intended to appease someone who advised him to order his flock to “cool down the political heat”?
From “papalagan” to “hayaan na lang”?
Tactical retreat in the face of a “black pope” whose counsel one cannot refuse?
Nota bene: The “black pope” is an appellation given to the Superior General of the Society of Jesus, who in several eras of Vatican history, was regarded as the power behind the Cathedra Petri. Taken hyperbolically here, the Jesuits are not involved in this Filipino saga.
After all, even the Archbishop of Manila, so unlike a deceased politically-interventionist predecessor, called for sobriety and prayers to defuse the political situation that does the country and its economy nothing good at all. The wise Juan Ponce Enrile, soon to be a hundred and one years old by February 14 next year, also called for calm. Neither could be the “black pope.”
Will the hotheads in the palace beside the stinking river and the House near the garbage dump forever keep their peace, or will they unsheathe their swords at some later time? Tactical retreat or strategic peace in our time?
Who approached the “black pope” to advise Malacanang to hold its horses off?
“Never say never” or will the “storm in a teacup” blow over after the midterms?
What will the resident Rasputin whose services might be replaced come January 20 think of next?
This telenovela ain’t done. It’s just being reformatted to get higher views. Besides, the circus is coming to town — the elections of 2025, with AKAP and AICS, Tupad and MAIP, and whatever more, as trailers.
For now, let us be thankful to the “black pope” for tender mercies.
At least Congress will not be the “grinch” who would steal our Christmas, as it did in 2000 when Erap’s goose was cooked.