Cruz's Column

As I See It : Will the nation ever know the truth?

Neal H. Cruz
Inquirer News Service

IT WAS a chance for congressmen to be great, but they chose to be greedy instead. They could have opted for the truth that the nation has been asking, ended the uncertainty and disbelief of an entire nation, but they chose money instead like true mercenaries.

In the lowest point of the history of the House of Representatives, gleeful and gloating congressmen like true movie villains murdered the impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. It did it in record time, too, like an express train. While the House always took many months, sometimes going beyond the deadline, to do its most important function -- the enactment of a budget -- it took only a couple of days to permanently kill the impeachment complaint. The House had 60 days to decide whether or not to impeach the President. It had used up only 14 of those 60 days. It had 46 days left. Yet it rushed the voting on such an important undertaking, working the whole night straight to the morning after to hammer the last nail on the coffin of democracy in the Philippines.

What was the hurry? The President is going to the United Nations and she wants to be able to boast there that there is no more impeachment threat hanging over her head. Never mind if her constituents back home hate her so much they wish she wouldn't come back anymore, how she looks like to foreigners is more important to her.

So the marching order to her mercenaries in the House was to kill the impeachment case before her trip, perhaps with a bonus if they did it in record time.

So the Filipino nation will never know the truth. Who is its rightful president? Who won in the last presidential elections, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo or Fernando Poe Jr.? Did Ms Arroyo cheat? Is she a usurper and an impostor?

The nation would have been better served had the representatives of the people, who had overwhelmingly expressed their opinion in surveys that they want to know the truth, sent the case to the Senate for trial. After all, impeaching the President doesn't mean she would be ousted. It would merely allow both sides to present their evidence so that the Senate can judge it fairly. Ms Arroyo will be given her day in court as she wants.

"Impeach me! Give me my day in court so I can defend myself. Follow the rule of law," she challenged the opposition. Then she can prove her innocence, that she won "fair and square" as she claims. And that's what the opposition tried to do: Impeach her, follow the rule of law.

But instead of seeking the truth, the House decided to kill the complaint so no evidence could be presented. The people will now be forever in doubt. Are we being ruled by a pretender? Do we have a fake president?

Does Ms Arroyo really want to be impeached so she can defend herself? I don't think so. I think her dare to the opposition to impeach her is just one more lie, like the many others before it. I think she is really afraid to let the evidence come out.

Why has she not bothered to answer the charges against her, to enlighten her people? Why has she chosen to remain silent instead all this time? Why is she afraid of the truth?

Silence is the refuge of the guilty.

* * *

The current controversy between the Basketball Association of the Philippines (BAP) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) is caused by politics, not sports. It is caused by "amor propio," that very destructive Filipino vice, too much pride. The POC refuses to reinstate the BAP despite the refusal of the Federation of International Basketball Associations (Fiba) to accept the POC's preferred basketball league, the Philippine Basketball Federation Inc. (PBFI), and continue to recognize the BAP. Without Fiba recognition, the PBFI cannot compete in the coming Southeast Asian Games or any other international tournament. And unless the BAP is reinstated by the POC, it cannot participate, either.

In its letter to the POC, Fiba concluded that the BAP's expulsion was maneuvered by the POC.

"Fiba's current conclusion," Patrick Baumann, Fiba secretary general, said in his letter, "is that the expulsion is inappropriate and out of proportion. In particular, it is not understandable why the new leadership of BAP in the person of its president, Mr. [Joey] Lina, was not given sufficient time to adjust to the POC requirements after the suspension. In fact, the sequence of events rather demonstrates that the suspension was a maneuver to reach the expulsion of the BAP and the integration of the opposing personalities under the PBFI.

"Fiba's opinion is that it is inappropriate to use basketball as a sport-political game between opposing sides. As a consequence, Fiba cannot accept the POC's decision to remove one group in favor of another one.

"Therefore, a permanent solution cannot be found by forcing the recognition of the PBFI through Fiba. A satisfactory solution can only be the result of a domestic process where all basketball leaders participate, including BAP, PBA -- who have already a standing memorandum of agreement with BAP -- and all others that you have mentioned as stakeholders in our sport...

"As long as such unity is not demonstrated and guaranteed by all stakeholders to Fiba, Fiba will continue recognizing the BAP as its regularly affiliated member but also maintain the suspension from all official international competitions."