Inoculation
Someone submitted an impeachment complaint to Congress against Chairman Benjamin Abalos of the Commission on Elections yesterday. Going by the record of the complainant, however, this looks like another one of those inoculation operations that critics say have served President Arroyo well. A defective complaint, meant to be thrown out by the majority bloc in the pro-administration House of Representatives, is filed, thereby ensuring that the subject of the complaint cannot face another impeachment effort within one year. That one year gives Abalos ample time to retire in peace in early 2008.The House can still prevent this inoculation of Abalos by rejecting the complaint filed by Oliver Lozano, a lawyer identified with the Marcos loyalists. But if the performance of the 13th Congress were to be a gauge, Lozano’s complaint is meant to bring closure, however messy it might be, to all the accusations of impropriety and criminal acts leveled against the Comelec chief. The complaint dwells only on the Comelec’s P1.2-billion poll automation contract with the private consortium Mega Pacific, which the Supreme Court nullified. Lozano suggested that his complaint be incorporated with any formal charge that may be lodged by congressmen who are studying the impeachment of Abalos in connection with the government’s $330-million broadband network deal with Chinese firm ZTE Corp.
Abalos has denied involvement in the ZTE deal and has said he is ready to face Congress. His impeachment does not necessarily mean he will be removed from office; it will merely be the first step in a process that will bring any complaint against him to the Senate for trial. Removal from office as a result of the trial is uncertain. Depending on the evidence presented, Abalos can also be cleared or merely censured by the Senate. But in a case that has been marked by a complete lack of transparency, the process will allow the truth to be known, quicker than it will take if the case goes through the snail-paced judicial system. The truth will never be known if the House allows a defective complaint to sabotage the process.
