Last Thursday late afternoon I received what was then breaking news; that the Commission on Elections (Comelec) didn’t approve the request of the Office of the President for an exemption on the ban on the suspension of officials during the election period.
The parties involved are the officials of Cebu City headed by Mayor Michael Rama.
This incident is an interplay of the requirements of what constitutes due process of law as enshrined in our Constitution.
Due process as basically defined in the Webster dictionary is “one that hears before it condemns.” Meaning the requirements that the person accused should be heard by himself or by counsel in order to defend himself from the accusation hurled at him.
In Rama’s case a complaint has been filed against them by Atty. Reymelio Delute on the approval and release of the P20,000 calamity cash aid.
As part of due process, a hearing was conducted by a hearing officer of the Department of Interior and Local Governments (DILG) where Rama and the 12 councilors presented their sides on the issue.
Afterwards, the hearing officer came up with his recommendation based on the appraisal of the facts and the law at issue during the hearing. By this we mean that the hearing officer had a first hand/closer view of the issue and was able to determine the culpability of the persons accused.
We have heard that the hearing officer recommended that the persons accused were not culpable for lack of evidence but the DILG secretary overturned his recommendation.
It may appear irregular but I personally believe that it is part of the interplay of due process of law because the findings of the hearing officer is only recommendatory subject for review by higher ups.
But the law requires that before the mayor and company can be suspended it required Comelec approval since the election season is now in full swing.
Comelec approval is part of the interplay of due process of law, an essential ingredient of democracy in our country.
In the case of Rama and the 12 councilors, regardless of the intention of the Office of the President it has to respect the rule of law.
Many people especially those from the Rama camp are happy with the Comelec decision as it prevented a possible outbreak of violence that may occur due to the anxiety of Rama’s supporters over the looming suspension order.
Now I am not too sure if Rama’s opponent is going to give up easily. I know that they have the means and the connection to possibly derail the mayor’s aspiration for a third term of office which is why it is not wise for Team Rama to be complacent.
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In the US front this week we saw Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich and their respective families faced the public in a town hall debate and answered questions from the public.
It was so nice and refreshing to observe the candidates and their families meet the public and answer questions from them about their family values especially in their business and how they were brought up by their parents.
The town hall program brought some sanity to the once nasty Republican presidential debates with the families answering questions from the public.
Last Friday a one-on-one debate between Secretary Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders presenting their positions on some issues before the public prior to the New York primary scheduled on Tuesday next week.
The positions of Clinton and Sanders showed a lot of their differences in the many issues raised by CNN’s Anderson Cooper like foreign policy and security, social security services, the issue about Israel and the Palestinians and many more.
But I wish that in our country our presidential candidates should engage themselves in issue-oriented debates in order for the people to assess their competence and qualification.
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