Democratic Fictions, Oblete!
Constitutions and other legal precepts all over the world are obsolete legal fictions that gained acceptance with the theories of famous early thinkers who asserted during their time that the earth was flat. When Columbus and Magellan proved that the earth is round, they lost face with embarrassment like wet chicken. Some were excommunicated. Other lost composure bordering on madness. Public opinion today should not be gauged by the vote of justices or senate impeachment court. The framers of our Constitution who are old fogies now did not have internets, twitters, facebooks or cellphones in 1986.
They did not know about climate change or money laundering or archipelaic doctrine or weather convergence. They did not even know that what hit them was a tsunami or Intensity 7 or a storm surge.
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The Senate Impeachment Court can just use second grade arithmetic by deducting the salary of the chief justice from the value of his acquired properties. The balance is the impeachable amount. Never mind such fictions like proof beyond reasonable doubt, preponderance of evidence or better evidence. These are all blah-blah. Unsa, sano? Never mind the distinction between treason from “high crimes”. To the barangay folks, treason is better than “kick-kick, kawat and katiwalian.”
Senator judges should observe delicadeza in their roles as judges and refrain from bullying congressman prosecutors who are their equals. Congressmen are representative of their distinct – so when a senator – judge bullied the congressmen prosecutors with abusive language, the people of the congressional districts are insulted. It is high time to abolish the Senate. Even its impeachment rules are wanting. It does not represent any group of people or portion of territory. The Senate is useless duplication in our system of governance. It could be converted into the agency of Public Opinion and gauge the pulse of the nation by utilizing cellphones, twitters and facebooks. Senator-judges should emulate the late Secretary Angelo Reyes [may Angie rest in peace] for his conscience-rooted delicadeza which is which is akin to the Japanese hara kiri. In early Japan, a government official who is entangled in graft predicament, commits suicide. In the Philippines, an official who is facing the same predicament uses his wealth to hire abogados de campanilla who are famous of objections, cross examinations and other legal fictions that defeat public opinion. Yes, sano, abogado de lingganay. Bagting, migo! Tapos…..
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“Delicadeza is a funny trait. Some men refuse to live without it.”
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