A Matter of Accountability

By Artchil B. Fernandez

In a democracy, the government is owned by the people. Democracy—to pirate a phrase from Abraham Lincoln—is a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” Public officials owe their position to the people who elected them.

Sovereign power and authority in a democracy reside in and belong to the people. Under a democratic setup, public officials are nothing but paid servants of the people. Since public officials derive their authority from the people, they are accountable to the people when they exercise the power vested in them and in how they utilize their position.

Accountability is sacrosanct in a democracy. What primarily distinguishes democracy from autocracy is accountability. In authoritarian regimes, the dictator or absolute monarch is not accountable to the people. The people, on the other hand, can hold public officials accountable for their actions and punish them when they commit abuses while holding public office in a democracy.

Public officials are required to explain their decisions and actions to the people. They have to ensure that, in the exercise of their power, they act in the interest of the public and not for self-interest. This is accountability. Public officials are answerable to the people.

Without accountability, public officials openly commit corruption, abuse their authority, and defile public office. Accountability makes it difficult for public officials to steal public funds, use their office to advance personal and selfish interests, and prey on the resources of the state. Corruption withers when there is accountability.

The highest law of the land, the Constitution, has enshrined accountability. The entire Article XI of the Constitution is devoted to the accountability of public officials. Section 1 declares that “Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must, at all times, be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency; act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives.”

The mechanism for accountability is impeachment. Section 2 of Article XI lists the officials who can be impeached: the president, the vice president, the members of the Supreme Court, the members of the constitutional commissions, and the ombudsman. The grounds for their impeachment are “culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust.”

Under Section 3(1), Article XI, the exclusive power to impeach an official is vested in the House. The Senate, on the other hand, has the sole power to try and decide all impeachment cases [Section 3(6), Article XI]. Upon receiving the impeachment complaint from the House, the Senate is mandated by the Constitution to conduct a trial “forthwith” or immediately [Section 3(4), Article XI].

The Constitution is clear and unequivocal on the accountability of high government officials. But today, the country is headed toward a constitutional crisis with the Senate playing around and ignoring the Constitution regarding accountability. Vice President Sara Duterte was impeached by the House five months ago, but the Senate has refused to obey the Constitution by conducting a trial promptly.

Under the leadership of Chiz Escudero, the Senate is inventing all kinds of excuses—the lamest ones included—to evade its constitutional duty and mandate. Notwithstanding the consensus of legal and constitutional experts in the country, the Senate remains adamant in refusing to hold the impeachment trial of Sara Duterte. The Senate has even assumed non-existent powers, such as remanding the impeachment complaint to the House, to further suspend and delay the trial of the vice president.

The Senate’s continued inaction on the impeachment complaint against Sara Duterte is a blatant betrayal of public trust and a brazen transgression of the Constitution. It is tantamount to slaying accountability and killing it in public service. By refusing to hold Sara Duterte accountable for her actions, the Senate is setting a dangerous and awful precedent. It will encourage high officials to go on a rampage of perversion of their position.

Should Filipinos allow the Senate to get away with the murder of accountability, it will open the floodgates for the flagrant abuse of public office. Once the Senate succeeds in liquidating accountability, public officials can henceforth defile and corrupt their office, feast on public funds, and use their position to advance selfish agendas. They need not fear being held to account for their evil deeds. All high public officials would need to do is get enough senators to shield them from being made to answer for their high crimes.

Sara Duterte is accused of high and serious crimes: betrayal of public trust; commission of high crimes due to her threats to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez; betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption due to misuse of confidential funds within the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President; betrayal of public trust and bribery within the Department of Education; violation of the 1987 Constitution and betrayal of public trust due to unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets; commission of high crimes due to involvement in extrajudicial killings in the drug war; betrayal of public trust due to alleged destabilization plots and high crimes of sedition and insurrection; and betrayal of public trust due to her unbecoming conduct as vice president. Instead of demanding that she answer the charges, the Senate is protecting her from being held to account for these grave misdeeds and wrongdoings.

Filipinos must not permit the Senate to desecrate the Constitution, butcher accountability, and act as protector of public officials who committed high crimes. Accountability must be preserved to protect public offices from corrupt and morally bankrupt leaders.