Lessons on power and liability

“All good things must (come to an) end.” This is an old saying that officials of the current administration must take to heart, lest they think, speak, and act as if there were no end to power.

It is a proverb that administration leaders must constantly remind themselves of, to insulate themselves from the illusion that they are immune from future liability. Every questionable pronouncement or action they make can result in all sorts of criminal, civil, and administrative accountabilities when they are no longer in power.

Four years from now, we will usher in a new president who will not belong to the camp of President Duterte. This is a lesson drawn from our history.

In our succession of four presidents in the past 20 years, the candidate backed by the previously elected president lost to the opposing candidate. In 1998, President Fidel Ramos supported Jose de Venecia, but Joseph Estrada won. In 2004, elected (but ousted) President Estrada supported Fernando Poe Jr., but Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo won. In 2010, President Arroyo supported Gilbert Teodoro, but Benigno Aquino III won. In 2016, President Aquino supported Mar Roxas, but Rodrigo Duterte won.

Our next president — by the predictable course of history — will not protect officials of the current administration. Based on the common fate that befell our past three presidents, the previous president will be criminally prosecuted under the term of the succeeding president. Estrada was criminally convicted under the Arroyo administration. Arroyo was imprisoned under the Aquino administration. And Aquino has been criminally charged under the Duterte administration.

Four years from now, there will be a stampede of congresspersons and senators who will abandon the current ruling party and join the party of the new president. This is a lesson drawn from our brand of politics.

Legislators who are rabid supporters of the current administration will quickly reinvent themselves as zealous followers of the succeeding administration. They will eagerly support moves of the next administration to exact liability on previous officials, even if the latter were their benefactors at one time. The loyalty of our politicians is held by whoever holds the key to the pork barrel storehouse.

Four years from now, the period of time allowed by law to file cases against the grave illegalities attributed to the current administration would not have expired yet. This is a lesson written in our laws.

The most serious illegality attributed to the current administration involves its campaign against drugs, in which at least 4,000 have died in the hands of policemen. If any of these deaths is uncovered as murder, the period to prosecute those who masterminded or executed the crime will not expire until after 20 years. The possibility of a disgruntled, incentivized, or guilt-stricken witness who will name names will hang like the sword of Damocles over the heads of those involved.

Four years from now, the current administration’s neglect of the vital problems of the masses will dam the flow of support for it. This is a lesson drawn from the shifting tides of public opinion.

President Duterte was voted into power because he promised “change” to the toiling masses. Two years into his term, rumblings are emerging because of substantial increases in the costs of transportation, of farm inputs, and of basic commodities. Gambling is flourishing, and rampant smuggling is killing local industries. The drug menace resurfaces during lulls in the killings, and this repeated resurgence shows that the killings will not solve the drug problem.

Meanwhile, the administration is focused on “federalism,” a completely worthless endeavor. And it persecutes an Ombudsman who is an effective sentinel against corruption. Worst, politicians who have brought so much suffering to the nation have been resurrected. Change is not on the horizon.

These are the lessons that the Duterte administration must learn from history, politics, law, and the shifting tides of public opinion.

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