Fishing for evidence and oil

The fishing expedition for evidence against Vice President Sara Duterte by the members of the House Justice Committee and Malacañang’s search for oil reveal the feeble minds of the former and the inutility of the latter.

The scheduled hearing (on the charges and evidence) was beamed on national, and maybe international, TV. To the lawmakers’ frustration and outrage, however, neither VP Sara nor her counsel showed up.

The panel members who obviously came prepared to vilify Sara ended up outdoing each other in an incendiary rhetorical contest, some of them shamelessly displaying their ignorance of the law, while others thought we were under a dictatorial regime and they could do their thing in a grand inquisition.

In a published statement attributed to the lawyers of the Vice President, it emphasized that it was the right of the accused to waive her right to appear before the Justice Committee. The Committee members were aghast at her decision not to show up and Representative Rufus Rodriguez could not keep his silence. He remarked that Sara’s refusal to appear was an insult to the committee. That was, of course, expected from the Cagayan de Oro lawmaker who had earlier taken a stand against the impeachment of Sara but later made a 180-degree turn.

In short, the undaunted Sara told her accusers to meet her in the Senate and present their evidence there for her to refute. She wants a bloodbath in the Senate and not in the House of hungry hyenas.

The fishing expedition of the committee is akin to Malacañang’s exploration for scarce oil. After bad-mouthing China to please his Uncle Sam, President Bongbong Marcos swallowed his pride and went begging on bended knees to China to spare the Philippines a few barrels of oil.

Not only that, Marcos is now looking at reviving the joint venture initiated during former President Rodrigo Duterte’s term with China to explore and mine the billions of barrels of oil under the West Philippines Sea. The Duterte administration was about to conclude a 60/40 agreement in favor of the Philippines but the end of his term placed the deal in suspended animation.

Marcos, however, pooh-poohed the idea completely and turned the turrets on China over the issue of territorial sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal. Having allowed the US to establish nine EDCA bases in the country, Marcos and his ilk went saber-rattling to please Uncle Sam. Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Romeo Brawner proudly asserted the AFP was ready to do battle that would last for 30 days and beyond. Coast Guard spokesman Jay Tariella believed him and waged a verbal assault on China, thus subsuming the functions of the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The war in the Middle East must have knocked their heads and awakened them to their senses. They realized that the war arsenal of the country is so crude and outdated compared to the missiles of mass destruction that hit the targets of both protagonists.

Talking of oil reserves, the Philippines is not short of it. If Malampaya has gas, oil deposits are not far behind. Sulu Sea, Liguasan Marsh and Agusan del Sur lakes had been explored and found to have gas — and where there is gas there are always oil deposits.

Yes, we have abundant sources of gas and oil but it takes a decisive and strong national leadership to convert these into a stable supply and national wealth.