Malaya Newspaper
Opinion, June 17, 2004

Tainted presidency
By: Nestor Mata

OBVIOUSLY, Malacañang's spin masters and political bimbos are riled by Sen. Aquilino Pimentel's actions because he is stalling the proclamation of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. They want to railroad the canvassing of votes in Congress, despite the Opposition's documented proofs of massive electoral frauds.

There was absolutely nothing wrong committed by Sen. Pimentel in his filibuster. 

For those who did not understand Pimentel's action -- the rabid Palace barkers, the cardinals, priests and nuns, the paid partisans, the irritated TV and radio viewers and listeners, and other uninformed people -- the solon was exercising a right of minority or opposition as bestowed by law and congressional rules.

The filibuster, by the way, is an accepted technique in Congress, something commonly practiced in the American Congress, the British Parliament, the Japanese Diet, and, naturally, the Philippine Congress. The word is derived from the Dutch "urijbuiter" or freebouter, translated into French as "flibustier", into Spanish as "filibustero" (remember Rizal's famous political novel "El Filibusterismo"?), then into English as "filibuster." Today it means unlimited talk, part of the right to speak as permitted by the rules of Congress, until the vocal cords or imagination of one begins to tire. The subject matter need not be relevant, even including reading the telephone directory.

Back to Sen. Pimentel. His filibuster was to prevent the majority senators and congressmen from railroading the canvassing of votes for the presidential and vice presidential candidates, be these spurious or not.

He wanted the people to know the whole truth. Yes, like manipulating the polls, vote buying, switching of ballot boxes, "dagdad-bawas" or add votes here and subtract votes there, tampering of election returns and Certificates of Canvass and other numerous ways of cheating before, during and after the electoral contest.

So, why the demands for fast-tracking the process of canvassing? Why the outcries, the insults, the barbs thrown at Pimentel and other oppositionists who wanted to tell the truth in their exposes about blatant poll irregularities? Why the hurry to ram through the counting?

What is most urgent is to verify the authenticity of the Certificates of Canvass (CoCs). The process, and it includes the demands of the opposition for a thorough check of questionable CoCs, could indeed be long and laborious, perhaps even irritate some, but its purpose is to find the truth.

On this point, let us read the wise opinion of the Supreme Court Justice Reynato Puno, as concurred in by Justices Romeo Callejo, Sr., Angelina Sandoval-Gutierrez and Adolfo Azcuna, that "the determination of the authenticity and due execution of the (CoCs) cannot be done in a robotic manner. The law and the rules require that due consideration be given not only to the (CoCs) but also to the election returns and the Statement of Votes."

In other words, Puno very clearly stressed, "the search for the truth about the true will of the electorate should not be confined to the four corners of the (CoCs)."

"The nation can endure a slow but trustworthy tally. It may not survive an indefensible count, however speedy it may be," the senior justice warned. "An unreasoned or unreasonable judgment by Congress runs the risks of rejection in the parliament of the street of the people. And the danger is that we may not just face a mute multitude."

This is certainly an ominous warning, coming as it does from an eminent senior justice of the highest court of the land. It must be heeded by those in power and by lawmakers in Congress, specially the majority that appears hell-bent on "railroading through" the canvassing of CoCs, unverified or otherwise, and the proclaiming of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her running mate as the winners, despite documented allegations of electoral wrongdoings.

Ultimately, the majority by virtue of its superiority in numbers will overwhelm the minority, but what good is a tainted presidency to them or to Gloria?

The real winner of the presidency must possess the true mandate of the Filipino people, and, as the Confusian doctrine has it, of heaven!