Enticements before the verdict?

IS PRESIDENT Aquino, the number one advocate of the “Daang Matuwid,” moving heaven and earth to influence a guilty verdict in the impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona?

Recent Malacañang appointments have not escaped notice because of suspicions that some of these may be aimed to make senator-judges beholden to the President. Now that a Corona conviction seems to be farfetched, given the prosecution’s evidence that is neither here nor there, the political quid pro quo may have already begun.

No one needs a lecture that in Filipino culture, debts of gratitude are often harnessed to influence political affiliations or decisions. But in an exercise so critical to Filipino nationhood such as the Corona impeachment trial, where independence and integrity are at stake, a debt of gratitude is the least one would expect from a President avowedly committed to the “Daang Matuwid,” the righteous path.

Sen. Chiz Escudero’s mother Evelina Buencamino Guevarra Escudero can certainly stand on her own merits. She is a doctor of Philosophy in Education and she has a master’s degree in Arts in Educational Administration, both from the University of the Philippines. She has been the president of the UP Alumni Association Hostel and Canteen Services Inc. since 2008 and an accredited assessor of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) on restaurant services since 2004.

As coach, Ms Escudero has steered several award-winning teams representing the Philippines in prestigious culinary skills olympics abroad. No problem about that. But to appoint her now as a member of the UP Board of Regents, should that not have been a matter of delicadeza? Would that not influence the vote of her senatorson in the Corona impeachment trial? Senator Escudero is associated with Vice President Jejomar Binay.

The President’s retention of Mark Lapid, widely perceived as an Arroyo midnight appointee in

We thought horse-trading had become a thing of the past under the Aquino administration

the Philippine Tourism Authority, now renamed the Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority, may influence the eventual vote of his father Sen. Lito Lapid, who is perceived to be an Arroyo loyalist.

The elder Lapid’s recent dissenting vote against the Supreme Court order barring the disclosure of the dollar deposits of Chief Justice Corona may already be an indication of how Lapid will eventually vote. It is clear that Mr. Aquino needs a tectonic shift in order to get senator-judges to favor a Corona conviction. The public perception is growing by the day that the likelihood of a Corona acquittal is more plausible. This, of course, does not sit well with President Aquino.

We thought horse-trading had become a thing of the past under the Aquino administration. We may be wrong again. Is it time to speak of “Daang Matuwid” in the past tense?

*** For me who was not honed in the journalism profession, Isagani Yambot came off as a surprising revelation. The one and only occasion I met him was at an INQUIRER training for some of its writers. I was asked, in my capacity as an anthropologist, to share on culturally sensitive writing in relation to indigenous peoples. The training was done in a Mactan Island resort and Gani came and listened intently to the inputs. I had thought that publishers were your typical behind-the-scenes newspaper executives who would marshal deadline-driven nerds at one’s beck and call. As a paper known for not mincing words and not retreating from crossing swords even with the powers-that-be, I had pre-configured the INQUIRER publisher as someone in a class of his own. I was right. Gani was indeed a class of his own, but in a very positive way. Not only was his gentle side disarming, he was actually pleasant to be with, cool without being reserved, kind without meaning to be pretentious. I was a neophyte in the INQUIRER op ed page then, but here he was asking questions like a child. Years later, I would continue to hear testimonies of his intellectual honesty.

Visayas historian Rolly Borinaga of UP Tacloban has this most interesting vignette of Gani on his Facebook account. “Though I had been contributing to the INQUIRER for many years, I had met Mr. Yambot only once; but it was a very memorable meeting for me. This was during the awarding rites for the ‘Gawad Kalinangan’ Journalism Awards of the Rotary Club of Manila at The Manila Hotel on June 14, 2001, when I received the grand prize for that contest. He attended the program together with a cameraman. After the ceremony, we approached each other and he requested the PDI cameraman to take our photo with my trophy. In our brief chat, he regretted he did not take along a reporter with him, and said he would have to write the news report himself. The next day, the item about the awarding rites appeared on Page 1 of the INQUIRER. It did not carry a by-line, but I knew it was written by Mr. Yambot himself.” Rest well in peace, Isagani Yambot.

*** Comments to antonmonta@gmail.com