In spilling some beans against the government in a privilege speech on February 4 prior to his ouster as Speaker of the House of Representatives engineered by no less than his own party mates, the motive, integrity and credibility of Jose De Venecia Jr. are suspect.

During his testimony in the on-going investigation of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee on the controversial ZTE-NBN deal four days later, Rodolfo Lozada Jr. was grilled by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on what seemed to appear as his illicit activities while acting as head of the government-owned Philippine Forest Corporation.  And this also put his integrity and credibility to test.

In the law profession, impeaching the credibility of a witness is a usual line of defense to defeat the introduction, admissibility, or acceptability of testimonial evidence or simply to dilute its competence. Questions on credibility normally revolve around motive and reputation of the witness.

As it has been in the past, impeaching the credibility of De Venecia and Lozada would obviously be the official government course to defend itself from their expose of corruption. At the end of the day, every accusation should be judged in terms of credibility and motive, not on the basis of what is the truth.

It is as if only saints have the capacity to tell the truth. If this is so, there is surely no chance for truth to ever surface. The reality in today’s world is that no one can claim with all honesty that he or she has lived a clean life through and through. No one is spotless. It is even a big lie for one to even say that he or she has never lied.

But assuming just for the sake of arguments that there are still people who live a life of righteousness who could stand on his or her own credibility and integrity, the problem is for sure they would never be a part or participate in any illicit or immoral acts. And they would never be in the situation where De Venecia, Lozada and other whistle-blowers are in right now in the first place. Apparently, it takes one to know one.

The whole point is that sinners also have the capacity and opportunity for greatness.

Many great men in history had their own share of scandals and ill-reputation but they changed the course of history because at one point in their lives they decided to do the right thing regardless of the risk involved.

De Venecia may have all the evil motives to bring down the current regime of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo as a form of political retaliation. Never mind the motive. What is important is for the Filipino people to know the truth and nothing but the truth. 

Lozada may not be exactly clean when as per his admission during the Senate inquiry that as far as he is concerned there is such a thing for him as ‘permissible zone’ of corruption. Never mind if he used to condone malfeasance or used to be a part of it. What is important again is for the Filipino people to know the truth and nothing but the truth.

No one exactly knows where these confessions of De Venecia and Lozada would go.  Perhaps like any other scandals and investigations, they will just remain as news of today in the coming weeks and months, and simply forgotten in the pages of the country’s history.

De Venecia and Lozada, regardless whether their acts and motives are mere acts of personal survival or mere acts of heroism as Senator Gregorio B. Honasan would put it, have the opportunity for greatness.

What is not sure is whether the Filipino people would take the same opportunity for themselves, for their country, and for the next generation.