Can open hearings educate voters?

VERY few people have the interest or patience to bother themselves by listening to court trials against our public officials. People we see on primetime TV milling around a Sandiganbayan courtroom are parties to cases of plunder and anti-graft charges – prosecutors, defense lawyers, the accused, government witnesses, the so-called whistleblowers, and persons assisting the parties. Court hearings are held during office hours of government and private-sector employees. They won’t file a leave and get a seat to listen to court proceedings about big-time corruption involving P10B plus.

Power to hear openly TV and radio reporters are prohibited from reporting the news right inside the courtroom during the trial. But newspaper artists can draw pictures of the parties and witnesses without disturbing them.

The Constitution gives the Senate or the House of Representatives or any of its committees the power “to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation in accordance with its duly published rules of procedure. The rights of persons appearing in or affected by such inquires shall be respected.” (Sec. 21, Art. VI, The Legislative Department)

The Senate/ House has its own rules of procedure which may not follow the Rules of Court when senators ask questions for witnesses to answer. Evidence presented or admitted may not be covered by the rules invoked in a court trial.

Co-equal departments This week President Aquino in Beijing told the media members in his party that the hearings about VP Binay need to be fast. But Senator Pimentel said it may last until April, 2015, which is not fast enough. Malacañang, to be honest about it, cannot interfere with investigations of corruption by the senators. Neither can the Supreme Court issue an order stopping the inquiry. The basic arguments against interference by the courts and the Palace are: 1) separation of powers doctrine, and 2) the Legislative, Executive and Judicial departments are co-equal in their separate powers.

Instant information Besides people need to be informed how public funds, by the billions, can be diverted to deeper pockets of politicians. Of our national population of 100m some 50m to 55m of us are poor, hungry, and starving. And the government has not found a quick answer to reduce the poverty rate by a few percentage points all these years since the end of martial law in1986.

Open hearings An open investigation should be judged by the people themselves. During the first years of the French Revolution beginning July 1789, the poor in Paris and in the countryside shouted for “bread, bread, we don’t have bread.” Marie-Antoinette became the target of agitators, who attributed to her the celebrated remark, after being told the people had no bread, “Let them eat cake!” She was executed with her husband Louis XVI in 1793.

An open inquiry into practices of graft and corruption will lead our people to have ideas of their own to stop theft of tax money that cannot be stopped by the COA, the Ombudsman, the courts and most law enforcers. (Comments are welcome at roming@pefianco.com).