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by Fernan A. Gianan

Crime and punishment

 The political drama now being endlessly shown on TV and headlined in newspapers would not have occurred had the framers of our

Constitution considered the election of a president and a vice president coming from the same political party.

It would have been easy on the ego of President Joseph Estrada if he had to yield to a party mate. Not to someone like Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who, in all likelihood, would embark on a thorough probe of his alleged misdeeds as soon as her butt warms the presidential throne. And she is not entirely dirt-free.

We assume that the spectre of another Marcos dictatorship led the Constitutional Commission to provide a counterweight to the presidency, someone to step in and correct the mistakes of his or her predecessor should a resignation or extraordinary development occur.

But, in electing an opposition VP, the electorate sends to Malacanang someone whose only job is to hold a death watch on the president's health and hope that her presence in the Cabinet would deter the sitting president from acts of ignominious stupidity and colossal misdeed. On the contrary, the vice president is essentially powerless, even if she agrees to serve as a department secretary.

The situation creates an atmosphere of enmity and distrust, not cooperation or partnership, between the two highest officials of the land. This we do not need at all.

It is the legislative branch's responsibility, not the vice president's, to check on the excesses of Malacanang. And, it would be the people's wrath the Senate and the House should face if they fail in their sworn duty. But what if both Houses are controlled by the president?

There lies the real problem. For what we have in our country today is a political system dominated by rich and powerful personalities. The party system died with the birth of the Marcos era and it was never successfully revived with EDSA. What we have are parties of political zombies and butterflies, moving not of their own accord but of the dictates of their own personal interests.

Party member pay lip service to party principles, turning their backs on it as they resort to all tricks in the book to achieve electoral victory. Like surgeons, these politicos (most influential of whom are Bar members) "operate" on the law to make it work in their favor.

Nowhere is this better seen than at the local level, where Lakas Gov. Hector S. Sanchez is at odds with Lakas Vice Gov. Alfred M. Aquino. Had the Lakas organization been strong enough, one of them would have been censured and made to toe the party line.

What if we also had governors and vice governors, as well as

mayors and vice mayors, coming from the same victorious political party on a vote-one, take-one free basis? The possibilities for cooperation and countryside development are endless, even it's only for three years.

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The noisy rallies and calls for resignation made by Cardinal Sin and former President Cory Aquino are endangering the survival of this fledgling Philippine democracy. Have they no faith in what their created after the EDSA Revolution?

We should let the law take its course. To entertain feelers from the embattled Estrada administration for a "graceful exit" or to even consider the Nixon formula would not add respectability to this country.

What we need is true crime and punishment. And a "graceful exit" or the Nixon formula would not do in its stead. We are a nation of law-breaking people and all-too-forgiving law enforcers. We sink further into disrepute as a country if we let Estrada get away with a slap on the hand rather than a lengthy stay in jail, if he is proven guilty. To those who say that the process will embroil the country into civil war, they do not know what democracy is. They never will know whether democracy will work for the Filipinos because they do not trust them to be morally and intellectually prepared for a crisis as serious as juetengate.

Besides, Filipinos love to be entertained. And in the face of hardships and uncertainty, let us be entertained by the spectacle of Erap in the lion's den at the Senate. Let the Senate take the heat if they fail to conduct the impeachment proceedings according to the Constitution. We pay them to be Senators, don't we?