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The Pangilinan Proposal

SOMETIMES A DELAY can prove more efficient in the use of time and resources.

The Senate Resolution 441 of Senator Francis Pangilinan may have been late for the adoption of Senate Resolution 432, otherwise known as the Rules of Procedures on Impeachment Trials, on March 23. But the senators may as well adopt it anyway to speed up the Gutierrez Impeachment Trial and save the country millions of pesos for the cost of an exercise that might not conclude earlier than a year.

What is a two-month delay if a final decision can be made within the first two months of hearing? Since the Pangilinan proposal allows the senator-judges to remove current Ombudsman chief Merceditas Guttierez when proven guilty only on one article, the impeachment proceedings can be concluded even on the first impeachment article should the evidence allows. That will certainly cut on the costs, allow the Filipinos to get over the issue quick, and when the verdict is guilty let the government do away with Gutierrez fast, and move on in its efforts to clean up the ranks.

More months in the senate impeachment court means more months for Gutierrez to continue to provide stumbling blocks for the government's drive against graft and corruption.

And what about the cost of impeachment proceedings? Without a swifter procedure, the trial may cost the Philippine coffers as much as triple the initial cost amounting to P15 million. That's an unnecessary expense of P30 million for a procedure that could have been improved at the cost of a 60-day delay in trial. The monetary savings and the swifter trial certainly more than makes up for that short delay of the commencement of the trial.

If the Filipino people are well-advised on the reasons for delaying the start of the Gutierrez impeachment trial, they surely will understand and wait more months patiently.

But if Senator Francis Escudero can help in pushing for the amendment of the Rules through a plenary that will be most welcome as well, and much quicker than going through a formal amendment process.

At the end of the day, the Filipino people are not interested on a long-drawn judicopolitical trial. They are interested more on knowing a fair verdict on the fate of Gutierrez, and this being done quick, so the public can move on.
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