It is quite difficult to make an elected official give up an office, especially in this country, but sometimes it does happen. On August 3, 2011, Senator Miguel Zubiri resigned as senator, after his victory in the 2007 midterm elections was questioned before the Senate Electoral Tribunal.
“Without admitting any fault and with my vehement denial of the alleged electoral fraud hurled against me, I am submitting my resignation as a duly elected senator of the Republic of the Philippines in the election for which I am falsely accused without mercy and compassion,” Zubiri said in a privilege speech.
No less than Senator Koko Pimentel, the candidate who would take over Zubiri’s seat, said it took a miracle for him to be declared the rightful winner.
Had Zubiri not resigned and withdrawn his counterprotest, the process of settling who got the 12th and final slot in the 2007 senatorial election could have lasted all the way up to 2013, the end of the term itself. We’ve seen the same delaying tactic employed many times by various candidates in past elections.
Zubiri said he resigned because the accusations against him had divided the nation and cast doubts on the country’s electoral system, affecting not only himself but also the Senate as an institution.
Indeed, some quarters had said Zubiri should have resigned a lot sooner, or that he just preempted the inevitable, because Pimentel was winning the protest anyway. But, really, most politicians in the Philippines would not have done what he did.
In this country, elected officials rarely leave their offices, even those who blatantly seem to have violated laws thereby demanding their removal, because government institutions seem to lack the political will or the tools to enforce it. There is little ability to force scandal-plagued politicians out of office.
In that sense, Pimentel was right. It was, indeed, a miracle that Zubiri practically just handed over his seat to Pimentel, giving up all the perks, power and prestige of being a senator. Many others would have simply tried to hold on to their posts, fight out their electoral cases to the end, until they are forced to vacate their seats.
Zubiri perhaps redefined the usual practice of Philippine politicians by this one act, putting the country before self, the public interest above private gain and partisanship.
After being a plain citizen, Zubiri took another stab at being senator and won in 2016, perhaps proving our people never forgot his statesmanship. He is now the incumbent Majority Floor Leader of the Senate.
In contrast, the nation recently witnessed Taguig-Pateros Rep. Alan Peter Cayetano’s resignation as House Speaker, or more specifically, his melodramatic offer to resign during the House plenary session on Wednesday, which Buhay Party-list Rep. Lito Atienza called “another version of telenovela insincerity.”
“I’m offering my resignation, here and now, to you my dear colleagues. My fate and the fate of the 2021 budget, and the fate of the leadership of the House is in your hands,” Cayetano said in a privilege speech before his fellow lawmakers, which included his fellow Taguig Representative and wife Lani Cayetano, who was the first to stand up and applaud him.
During his speech he bared details showing, yet again and quite obviously, that both he and his rival Marinduque Rep. Lord Allan Velasco seem to so focused on obtaining the blessing of President Duterte for the speakership, at a time when the entire country is suffering from this pandemic.
The No. 1 qualification for the speakership seems to be that he is a man of Malacañang. There is no mention of upholding shared principles and values, of the national agenda and the Filipino people, of good leadership, honesty and trustworthiness.
This is why we were against any term-sharing agreements to begin with, as if the speakership is a resort condominium unit being sold by some crafty salesmen, with no less than the President giving his final blessing to the contract, which in the end, the parties involved cannot even honor.
At one point, Cayetano even noted in his speech that celebrating his 50th birthday as House Speaker was part of the term-sharing deal.
Right after said speech, Anakalusugan Rep. Mike Defensor moved to deny Cayetano’s offer to resign, and the House plenary approved the motion through voice voting.
Hence, Cayetano kept his post, after his resignation that was not really one, giving more fodder for Filipinos who cannot anymore stomach the futility and utter lack of decency in Philippine politics.
Image credits: Jimbo Albano