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Commentary: Moral lapse is but human
By Henry S. Lagasca
SAN FERNANDO CITY, La Union (29 June 2005) -- The admission of President Gloria regarding the wiretapped phone conversation with a high-ranking elections official indicated that she is prepared to take full responsibility for any impropriety on her part. Her speech doused the intense heat in the political cauldron but keep the rest of the house smoldering along opposition party lines and will not stop the street marches and other protests being staged by militant groups.

The President’s unprecedented mea culpa draws mixed reactions. Some are praising her courage in “constructive contrition” calling every Filipino to take heed in genuine reforms as an opportunity in every crisis. However, the opposition is demanding for her ouster.

This is only fair but the problem is that the opposition is making “impossible and unconstitutional demands.”

PGMA has truly made a strong decision to continue in the direction of better and more responsive governance. The President has taken that first step forward reforming herself and her administration by admitting her “lapse of judgment” and asking the nation for forgiveness. When she said “I’m sorry” to the Filipino people, it is for the sake of our country and let us accept it and get on with our lives.

The ongoing legislative probes are aggravating the political noise of the opposition that, observers claimed, are biased and not really independent bodies that will investigate the “tape tale” and the jueteng scandal. These hearings have turned into a circus and striving to tell who is guilty to the entertainment of citizens’ part of everyday lives. That these probes went beyond their primordial objectives of being “ostensibly in aid of legislation” and even exceeded in performing their roles as “prosecutors.” The congressional and senate hearings have prejudged Ms. Arroyo and yet they do not want to go through the process.

On this issue, let’s come down on the primacy of the Constitution. If the opposition is dead serious about our Constitutional system, there should be any arguments that impeachment, not street marches and political grandstanding, is the logical course of action. We can’t allow ourselves to get carried away by the so-called “trial by publicity” as well as the political noise of the opposition because we don’t know what is true or not. We have to remain reasonable and uphold our impartiality as enlightened members of a civil society.

The torture of adverse publicity and speculations, innuendoes and rumors in the past weeks should be sufficient punishment if the President has committed any moral lapse.

Let’s give President Gloria the benefit of the doubt and we should support her call to give her the chance to now build on the gains of the government’s fiscal and economic reform program. Ms. Arroyo is still the leader in command and that she deserves our full support to do what is necessary to move our country forward. (PIA)

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