It is balimbing season once again. Balimbing is a fruit with many sharp sides, so that it has been popularly used to describe agile politicians who are able to change sides quickly everytime there is a change in the political weather. It is the local term for “turncoat.”
Senate President Aquilino Q. Pimentel, who is known to cling to his political principles no matter what the weather is, predicts a mass exodus of politicians to the Lakas-NUCD coalition in view of the ascendancy to the presidency of former Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
Pimentel said that “turncoats” are also set to denounce the disgraced former president, Joseph Ejercito Estrada, after formerly backing him up when he was in power, even while he was facing an impeachment process. Pimentel had resigned as Senate president when a majority of 11 senators voted not to allow the opening of an envelope containing new evidence against then President Estrada by the impeachment court. The act triggered EDSA II.
In the House of Representative, Minority leader Feliciano Belmonte, head of the 11-man prosecution panel in the Estrada impeachment case, was elected by the new majority last January 25.
Pimentel seemed safe in his chair as Senate president as the senators reportedly wished to preserve the status quo. Pimentel had resigned “effective upon the election of my successor.”
What disturbed Congress last week, were rumors of a planned coup against newly-installed President Arroyo. But this was dismissed outright by the senators as unlikely and unproductive. Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honosan, who played important roles in the EDSA I revolution, denied that they were plotting such a coup.
Pimentel expressed disgust over Estrada’s refusal to tender his formal resignation. He likewise assailed the deposed President who wrote him a letter insisting that Arroyo was taking over his presidential duties only in an acting capacity.
Which means, Pimentel says, Estrada seemed to be laying “the basis for a constitutional challenge in an effort to reclaim his presidency.”
In such event, however, Pimentel says President Arroyo can always invoke the decision of the Supreme Court declaring the presidency vacant and installing her as President.
The High Tribunal had declared that Mr. Estrada was in no capacity to perform his functions since key members of his Cabinet and the military and police establishments had already withdrew their support for him.
As a result, the Supreme Court allowed Chief Justice Hilario Davide to administer the oath to Arroyo as the 14th President of the country. Pimentel also noted that President Arroyo’s government had since been recognized by several countries, including the United States and other members of the United Nations.
Senate minority leader Teofista Guingona Jr. stressed that Mr. Estrada’s moves betray his desperate desire to return to power by all means available. “Instead of leaving the presidency with dignity, Mr. Estrada is still bent on creating trouble which will not help pursue the healing process sought by the people,” he said.
This apprehension was sustained by recent reports that some fellow senators and Erap die-hards were allegedly plotting to retake the government by force.
This alleged plot was exposed by the Akbayan Party which pointed to Senators Juan Ponce Enrile and Gregorio Honasan and former PNP director Panfilo Lacson as leaders of the movement to unseat President Arroyo. Enrile and Honosan, however, quickly dismissed the coup d’etat rumors and said these were part of the misinformation campaign against them.
“These are just fabricated by people with wild imaginations,” Honasan said. “There are no moves to overthrow the new government. The people should not believe such rumors.” Besides, observers said, Honasan and Enrile do not control any armed force anymore and were thus incapable of staging a coup.
Scarcely had the people savored the fruits of their hard-won EDSA II victory, “balimbing” elements have started to invade President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s administration.
Wave after wave of political butterflies and of folder brigades have been falling over each other to catch the attention of the new dispensation so they may promote their self-interests.
This scenario, they say, is part of the political culture spawned long before the People Power revolts at EDSA.
Pimentel says the transition between administrations almost always heralds the “season of balimbing.”
This season, Pimentel says, is expected to dominate the political landscape even as President Arroyo starts groping into her announced mission to heal the nation’s wounds and unite the Filipino people.
In a political sense, the Senate President points out, this situation means that the people can expect a mass exodus toward Lakas-NUCD, the incoming party in power, with their pronouncement of all-out support to President Arroyo and her program of government.
As expected, Pimentel says, political butterflies would start fluttering up and about the Senate and the House of Representatives and into the new corridors of power all over the country wishing well for the success of the Arroyo administration.
Pimentel, who is reportedly being groomed for the vice presidency, says the first signs that heralded the advent of the “balimbing season” had come was when a good number of Estrada’s friends and supporters stayed far away from their erstwhile idol at the crucial moments of the EDSA II upheaval the other week.
Paradoxically, however, Pimentel says this “balimbing culture” may yet work out to the initial advantage of the new dispensation to allow it to push through its agenda of government with less opposition and criticism.
Yet, Pimentel notes, such culture like the “balimbing” may also likely breed more corruption even as it abets the evils of political patronage.
Calling on all favor-seekers to give President Arroyo a leeway to allow her search committee to do the job of finding the right candidates. Rep. Ralph Recto of Batangas had already noted the “charge of the folder brigades” who have started to flock to Malacañan to win favors from the new President.
“Instead of leaving the presidency with dignity, Mr. Estrada is still bent on creating trouble which will not help pursue the healing process sought by the people,” Guingona said.
Recto says: “This horde of job applicants, influence peddlers and professional psychopants have descended on the President and on people close to her bearing proposals and resumes. These people have been angling for jobs or government contracts been angling for jobs or government contracts believing that the government is the biggest job recruiter in the country now.”
Some 1,000 top-echelon positions—from Cabinet posts to directorships in public corporations-are vacant because of the change of administration.
Recto says that the new President should be given a free hand to recruit people based on merit and not be pressured into palming off government positions as if these were spoils to be divided among the victors.
In a related development, Pimentel says he was amenable to reconvening the impeachment court for the last time to formally wind up its business.
However, he still has to consult with Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., the court’s presiding officer on this matter.
Pimentel’s position apparently stemmed from the request of deposed President Estrada to open the controversial second envelope now in the possession of the impeachment court “so that the truth will come out and the ends of justice served.”
Senate observers, nonetheless, noted that most senators have shown marked indifference to Pimentel’s plans to reconvene the impeachment tribunal.
The consensus in the Senate is that while the purpose of the impeachment tribunal was to remove the President, there is no longer a reason to reconvene the tribunal because Estrada had already been removed from office by virtue of the EDSA II upheaval.
Pimentel nonetheless says “the tribunal must meet anew in order to wind up the proceedings. It is not good to keep it hanging.”
The request of ousted President Estrada for the opening of the controversial second envelope containing details of the Jose Velarde bank accounts was coldly turned down by Senate leaders who sent his communication to the archives.
“With the removal of President Estrada through people power, there is no more reason to reopen the impeachment trial. It has become academic,” Sen. Raul Roco said.
Guingona said that there is no way the second envelope could be opened now since the tribunal is virtually adjourned.
Guingona added that the impeachment tribunal could only be reconvened if the House reconstitutes its panel of prosecutors. It is recalled that all the 11 House prosecutors resigned after the vote on the second envelope, charging that they could not expect any fair judgment from the Senate.
Meanwhile, Sen. Renato Cayetano early last week filed a resolution urging President Arroyo to grant unqualified amnesty to Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis “Chavit” Singson, Emma Lim, Carmencita Itchon, Clarissa Ocampo, Manuel Curato and other prosecution witness in the impeachment trial.
“These individuals are our modern day heroes. But in testifying or cooperating with the prosecution, these and other witnesses admitted certain acts which may constitute violations of the Revised Penal Code, the law on plunder, the law on secrecy bank deposits and other special laws,” Cayetano explained.
Cayetano also observed that “the courageous and patriotic acts of these individuals brought about People Power.”
Amnesty, Cayetano added, is generally granted to political offenders, but due to the indispensable and heroic role of the proposed grantees, the same may be given to them in recognition of their courageous stand against deposed President Estrada without considering their personal safety.
—Written by C. Stutz Fernandez. Published in February 5, 2001.
