- Rep. Edcel C. Lagman
- Independent, 1st District, Albay
- 0916-6406731 / 0918-9120137
- 01 February 2012
-
LAGMAN: DO NOT SACRIFICE
-
GOVERNANCE TO IMPEACHMENT
The Aquino administration’s inordinate focus on the impeachment and replacement of Chief Justice Renato Corona takes its toll on the economy and legislative work.
The collateral damage of the impeachment proceedings on governance and legislation is becoming inevitable.
While the national growth has plunged to 3.7% last year, which is much slower than the 7.6% gross domestic product (GDP) expansion in 2010, and the number of hungry Filipinos has escalated to 4.5-M from 4.1-M last September, the Aquino administration has marshaled its time and resources to an agenda of ousting the Chief Justice.
The implementation of national polices to address poverty and hunger may be stalled and the bailout of the fledging economy may fall at the roadside as all guns of the Aquino administration are aimed at the Chief Justice’s head.
Meanwhile, major legislations stagnate as congressional prosecutors and senator-judges have assumed new roles outside of their traditionally mandated legislative functions.
Since the start of the impeachment trial, attendance in the House of Representatives has dwindled to less than the requisite quorum and committee hearings are sparsely attended.
The marginalized and disadvantaged citizens are not concerned with alleged high profile transgressions of the elite officialdom except as a television extravaganza to forget their own woes.
They care most about lack of jobs, the very real possibility of missing their next meal, absence of adequate and immediate medical care and the petty graft of kotong cops, market collectors and small-time bureaucrats who bedevil their daily lives.
The Aquino administration must meaningfully and immediately address these small concerns of small Filipinos rather than divert its time, passion and resources to an agenda of prosecution which will not uplift and empower the greater number.
Let the impeachment trial proceed and end as warranted without excessive fanfare and biased publicity.