All wrong
All wrong
Updated 11:44pm (Mla time) Jan 09, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the January 10, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
THE TRIAL balloon that was the Romeo Jalosjos pardon seems to have fallen back to earth, deflated of its pretensions. Have justice and reason triumphed? We cannot be sure, because President Macapagal-Arroyo has not yet ruled the pardon out.
We must also never underestimate the resourcefulness of the wealthy and influential. Anything can yet happen, which is one reason to reiterate what we said last week. The proposed pardon for Jalosjos, the congressman from the Zamboanga peninsula convicted of statutory rape, is all wrong.
In the first place, he is not yet eligible for pardon. A convict meted out two life sentences, he must serve at least 15 years in prison before qualifying for the privilege. Secondly, the essentially political act of executive clemency carries enormous political risk for the President. Having wasted the political capital (she won from the May elections) through partisan appointments and lackluster performance, she risks losing even the little that is left.
Thirdly, pardon for Jalosjos assumes that the penal system has successfully rehabilitated him. In truth, the impact has been the other way around; Jalosjos, a wealthy politician with a vigorous political network, has undermined the system. His privileged quarters inside the prison are only the most visible sign of a zone of influence that extends beyond the maximum-security walls of the national penitentiary.
(Incidentally, the notion that pardoning Jalosjos is the Christian thing to do, as popularized by the likes of Rep. Ernesto Nieva, is a warped interpretation of Christianity. That it is an all-too-familiar argument does not make it any less warped. Forgiveness, the Christian faith teaches, comes to those who repent. Is Jalosjos the 21st-century equivalent of the prodigal son, whose guilt and remorse lead back to the father he has forsaken? To ask the question is to answer it.)
The first two reasons are intimately connected. If he is not yet eligible, then deeming him qualified is already an extra-legal and thus a political decision. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, a multiple-termer in Congress like Jalosjos, did not only raise the possibility of such an extraordinary decision; he correctly identified the President's option as necessarily a political act. That makes the grant of the pardon itself doubly political.
And then there is the fact that Jalosjos is an important political ally of the President; his political network gave her a wide margin of victory in its bailiwicks. That makes a Jalosjos pardon a political act three times over.
Can President Arroyo afford to play politics, during what she herself calls "the year of urgent change"? From the perspective of the national interest, there is nothing either urgent or change-related about the Jalosjos case. In truth, it represents a return to the same old, discredited ways of doing things. Thus, a Jalosjos pardon can only be a setback.
But perhaps the President is thinking of the support the pardon enjoys among many congressmen and local politicians. With a difficult legislative agenda to push, a presidential decision that warms congressmen's hearts and pleases local politicians on a gut level can be politically potent. Can the President afford not to play politics?
The answer is Yes. The President's task today is to finally leave partisan politics behind. In part, that means rising above the fray, addressing the public above the heads of congressmen. It also means cracking the whip on the House majority, regardless of the consequences. Paradoxically, it is by demonstrating political will over Congress that the President can regain her congressmen's confidence. She can disabuse them of the notion that she is a creature of Congress, a President with a million-vote mandate manufactured in the House.
She can attack these unspoken assumptions by taking Congress on in the Jalosjos case: This pardon may be dear to you; you may hold the opinion that all your unfortunate colleague really did was to get caught; but a pardon that reinforces public cynicism about politics and the administration of justice is a pardon we can all do without.
Updated 11:44pm (Mla time) Jan 09, 2005
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A14 of the January 10, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer.
THE TRIAL balloon that was the Romeo Jalosjos pardon seems to have fallen back to earth, deflated of its pretensions. Have justice and reason triumphed? We cannot be sure, because President Macapagal-Arroyo has not yet ruled the pardon out.
We must also never underestimate the resourcefulness of the wealthy and influential. Anything can yet happen, which is one reason to reiterate what we said last week. The proposed pardon for Jalosjos, the congressman from the Zamboanga peninsula convicted of statutory rape, is all wrong.
In the first place, he is not yet eligible for pardon. A convict meted out two life sentences, he must serve at least 15 years in prison before qualifying for the privilege. Secondly, the essentially political act of executive clemency carries enormous political risk for the President. Having wasted the political capital (she won from the May elections) through partisan appointments and lackluster performance, she risks losing even the little that is left.
Thirdly, pardon for Jalosjos assumes that the penal system has successfully rehabilitated him. In truth, the impact has been the other way around; Jalosjos, a wealthy politician with a vigorous political network, has undermined the system. His privileged quarters inside the prison are only the most visible sign of a zone of influence that extends beyond the maximum-security walls of the national penitentiary.
(Incidentally, the notion that pardoning Jalosjos is the Christian thing to do, as popularized by the likes of Rep. Ernesto Nieva, is a warped interpretation of Christianity. That it is an all-too-familiar argument does not make it any less warped. Forgiveness, the Christian faith teaches, comes to those who repent. Is Jalosjos the 21st-century equivalent of the prodigal son, whose guilt and remorse lead back to the father he has forsaken? To ask the question is to answer it.)
The first two reasons are intimately connected. If he is not yet eligible, then deeming him qualified is already an extra-legal and thus a political decision. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez, a multiple-termer in Congress like Jalosjos, did not only raise the possibility of such an extraordinary decision; he correctly identified the President's option as necessarily a political act. That makes the grant of the pardon itself doubly political.
And then there is the fact that Jalosjos is an important political ally of the President; his political network gave her a wide margin of victory in its bailiwicks. That makes a Jalosjos pardon a political act three times over.
Can President Arroyo afford to play politics, during what she herself calls "the year of urgent change"? From the perspective of the national interest, there is nothing either urgent or change-related about the Jalosjos case. In truth, it represents a return to the same old, discredited ways of doing things. Thus, a Jalosjos pardon can only be a setback.
But perhaps the President is thinking of the support the pardon enjoys among many congressmen and local politicians. With a difficult legislative agenda to push, a presidential decision that warms congressmen's hearts and pleases local politicians on a gut level can be politically potent. Can the President afford not to play politics?
The answer is Yes. The President's task today is to finally leave partisan politics behind. In part, that means rising above the fray, addressing the public above the heads of congressmen. It also means cracking the whip on the House majority, regardless of the consequences. Paradoxically, it is by demonstrating political will over Congress that the President can regain her congressmen's confidence. She can disabuse them of the notion that she is a creature of Congress, a President with a million-vote mandate manufactured in the House.
She can attack these unspoken assumptions by taking Congress on in the Jalosjos case: This pardon may be dear to you; you may hold the opinion that all your unfortunate colleague really did was to get caught; but a pardon that reinforces public cynicism about politics and the administration of justice is a pardon we can all do without.
posted by Dante at 7:23 PM
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