FOR a number of reasons, we are closely following events in the United States involving President Donald Trump and his political problems. The latest of these is the investigation of Russian interference in the last US election which, it seems, benefited him, the special inquiry that followed, and now a congressional hearing to clear up what the inquiry has actually found.
One reason for our interest is the fact that there are four million Filipinos living and working in the US today, all of them continuing to maintain their close ties with their families here. Another is the fact that our political system – with a president leading the Executive Department, a Congress composed of a Senate and a House of Representatives, and a judiciary led by a Supreme Court – is patterned after that of the US. Still another reason is that anything that happens in the US, the world’s biggest economy and lone surviving superpower, is bound to affect the rest of the world.
And then, there is the fact is that what is happening in the US today is political theater of the most riveting kind, with actors saying the most colorful dialogue in the most colorful way.
This week, the US House of Representatives, now controlled by the opposition Democratic Party, held a hearing in which former special counsel Robert Mueller was asked about his findings. The Russians, he said, interfered in the US elections of 2016 to boost Trump’s candidacy. “They are doing it as we sit here. And they expect to do it in our next election,” he said.
Mueller would not say if Trump was guilty of obstruction of justice when he kept attacking the investigation. He said his report did not exonerate Trump, but since the president can only be impeached, not charged with any criminal offense during his administration, any charge will have to wait until after he ends his term.
Many Democrats want to impeach Trump but party leaders know that while the House of Representatives may impeach him, the Republican-controlled Senate is bound to clear him. Party leaders, therefore, would rather face Trump, who is seeking reelection, in the coming presidential election in November, 2020.
The impeachment process is also part of our political system in the Philippines. Our Congress tried it against then President Estrada but his trial in the Senate was overtaken by People Power action at EDSA that cut short his term in 2001, leading to the assumption to office by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
Some opposition leaders recently raised the possibility of impeaching President Duterte for alleged violation of the Constitution in allowing Chinese fishermen in the West Philippine Sea, but with the overwhelming support the President enjoys in Congress – along with the weakness of the charge – there no way an impeachment process can advance against the President.
The entire world watches and listens at this continuing political theater in the US and not the least of this vast audience will be Filipinos who, we must not forget, excel in both politics and theater.
