Speak out: Mob Rule
By Lawyer Hector L. Fernandez
Many people are demanding the resignation of President Arroyo. Among the first to openly urge the President to resign was the Cebu City chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP). This is disgusting. Those trained in the law are expected to behave like lawyers. They should not be the first to endorse a mob rule.
Like many others, I do not have any love lost with the President. She has destroyed the economy and the morality of the country in the almost four years that she ruled as President. There is no president anywhere in the world who publicly lied in matters of extreme importance to his country who had not voluntarily resigned. Even the finance minister of Malaysia resigned lately when confronted with the information that his family corporation has dealings with the Malaysian government.
This is not so in the case of our President. She only made a public apology.
President's right
It is the right of the President to refuse resignation. As a people we should respect that right in the same way that we should respect the right of every lowly citizen of this country. This is where our Cebu City chapter of the IBP is dead wrong. It should have been the first to protect that right of the President.
Impeachment proceeding offers the available relief. The IBP should have galvanized all sectors of society to snowball an impeachment against the President. As of now, two impeachment complaints have already been filed in the House of Representatives.
It is generally conceded that an impeachment will not prosper because of the superior numbers of congressmen allied with the President. The same situation obtained during the time former president Joseph Estrada. But then former congressman and now Senator Manny Villar found a way to railroad the impeachment complaint to the Senate.
Impeach
There must be some way to do the same thing now against President Arroyo.
It’s only a question of hard work. When the impeachment proceeding starts in the Senate, it is completely upon President Arroyo to decide whether to try her luck or resign from the presidency to protect her hide.
We cannot expect the President, who appears to be immune from shame, to hand over her resignation in a silver platter. Let us join hands to impeach President Arroyo.
Another people power is just another mob rule. Lawyers should shy way from it.