(Speech on personal and collective privilege at the House of Representatives by PDP Laban Rep. Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. of Makati City, November 26, 2007, on the congressional options on the “weak” impeachment complaint against President Arroyo.)

MR. Speaker, I urge, nay, I plead with the leadership of the House not to dignify the Pulido impeachment complaint with any further formal proceeding.

That complaint was regarded by all, and we mean all, but one of its members—to wit, Rep. Egay San Luis—as a total sham.

This House had a heyday shredding the Pulido impeachment; so much so that its sole endorser, Representative San Luis, all but agreed it was baseless when he asked this representation and his other interpolators to amend the impeachment he had endorsed. He had been of the mistaken view that an impeachment is the same as a congressional investigation. Representative San Luis admitted that all he wanted was an honest search for the truth about ZTE.

Not surprisingly, when the Pulido complaint was referred to the Committee on Justice, it took just two meetings to arrive at everyone’s original and immediate conclusion: it was baseless and empty on its face.

Nonetheless, according to the dominant view, the referral to the justice committee inoculated the President from another impeachment within the year. If the aim of the Pulido complaint was to inoculate the President, this was achieved by its referral to the Committee on Justice.

It may well be that Mr. Pulido has earned his retainer—unless he prepared his complaint in the same mental obscurity with which it was subsequently endorsed.

Therefore, there is no need to dignify his baseless complaint with a further formal proceeding.

It is argued that a vote by plenary is mandatory by the constitution. Even when it is a sham and mocks a constitutional provision for public accountability? Are we to believe that our constitution makes its own mockery mandatory? We don’t think so.

But others may think so. Therefore, I am not asking that a vote by plenary be ignored; merely that compliance in a unique case unanimously, and I stress unanimously, viewed as a sham should come after a decent interval. Say, one year in the archives.

However, if this House believes it has no choice on the matter, then let a shortened version of the justice committee report that truly reflects the universal view be brought to it for a vote: one consisting of the single sentence that, “The Pulido impeachment complaint is hereby dismissed as a sham.” I believe even the rest of my friends in the minority will come back to vote for that.

What I am looking for here, Mr. Speaker, is for a way, any way, for this House to escape the indignity of performing the most dignified rites over a mockery of its sole prerogative to impeach under the constitution.

Please, honorable sirs, do not treat the members of this House as comfort women. Do not pile on the injury of a constitutional rape, the indignity of having the House do a striptease for Mr. Pulido and whoever else cooked up this abomination.

If the House leadership insists on embarrassing the House members with a formal vote, then let this manifestation serve as the explanation why I don’t want to be part of the experience. Pretend I was absent. No one wants to be seen even walking out on a bordello.

READING the World Bank’s latest report on East-Asia and the Pacific entitled “Will Resilience Overcome Risk?”, one can’t help but think that the future indeed belongs to the region.

ARGUING with the economic “experts” about the Philippines is about the same as arguing with my five-year-old son about thunder. I keep telling Adam that the noise from thunder will not hurt him, but his knowledge on the subject is too limited for him to understand the reality. So it is also with many experts who talk about the Philippine economy.

THERE just isn’t enough evidence to support the increasingly popular hypothesis that Asian economies are “decoupling” from a slowing US.

Mirror on the wall: Pagcor strives for transparency

THE World Bank (WB) is so much concerned with the lack of transparency among client governments that recently it virtually accused the Philippines of overpricing foreign-financed projects, a charge that is not unusual anymore.

FOR many students, classes in science and math can be a sleep-inducing experience.

Two thousand years after Socrates, the traditional lecture approach where the professor dominates the classroom discussion is still the standard teaching method of science in universities.

If you overindulged in turkey last Thursday, you’re not alone.
Research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has found that, on average, people gain about a pound during the period between Thanksgiving and late February. Most of the increase occurs between Thanksgiving and New Year’s. When participants in the study were checked again a year later, they had gained another 1.4 pounds.

LMR. Speaker, I urge, nay, I plead with the leadership of the House not to dignify the Pulido impeachment complaint with any further formal proceeding.