All eyes will be on former Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide Jr. as he performs the tremendous task of heading the Truth Commission formed by President Aquino to investigate allegations of corruption, poll fraud, and rights abuses under the Arroyo administration.

Davide confirmed having accepted the chairmanship of the commission but gave no promise as to how he will carry out the job.

He, nevertheless, admitted he has a great task ahead of him given the fact that he will probe the administration he had served and the President he swore into office in 2001.

His appointment to the Truth Commission was viewed by many as a testament to his credibility and integrity.

Truly, the country’s former

chief magistrate, who remains one of the most trusted Filipinos, is expected to unravel the truth behind the anomalies of the Arroyo government despite his affiliation with former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The Arroyo government was hounded by a string of controversies, including allegations she rigged the 2004 presidential elections and that her family and political allies benefited from government transactions, including the highly controversial national broadband deal with China’s ZTE Corp. Mrs. Arroyo, however, denied any wrongdoing.

Back in January 2001, then Chief Justice Davide was the one who swore in then Vice President Arroyo into the presidency during the EDSA 2 uprising that removed President Joseph Estrada.

Upon Davide’s retirement in 2005, Arroyo appointed him Senior Presidential Adviser on Electoral Reforms. In 2007, she designated him as permanent representative of the Philippines to the United Nations.

But last April, Davide resigned from his post and endorsed the presidential bid of Aquino and other Liberal Party (LP) candidates.

During the May 10 elections, Davide’s son, Hilario III, ran for governor of Cebu province under the LP banner but lost to reelectionist Gwendolyn Garcia, a loyal ally of Arroyo.

Davide was also close to Aquino’s mother, the late President Corazon C. Aquino. Like the democracy icon, Davide became one of the staunch critics of the martial rule of the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos.

To ensure that the Truth Commission will be beyond criticism, President Aquino vowed that he will not dictate the direction it will take in investigating the unresolved issues committed during the previous administration.

“An independent commission is what we are looking for, an investigation that will be beyond criticism and which will be undertaken with freedom,” Aquino said after he unveiled the members of his Cabinet Tuesday.

“What we are looking for is not manufactured results for political purposes but based on solid evidence and facts,” the newly installed Chief Executive of the Philippines pointed out.

However, Aquino stressed that at the end of the day the output the Truth Commission will be recommendatory in nature.

“Why do we set up a commission instead of just working through the normal agencies of the state? To begin with, the Department of Justice has a lot of responsibilities and so is the Ombudsman. Even by just attending to all of these cases, they might lose focus, it will produce an inherent delay, and the delay exacerbates the problem because we are not finding out what produced these wrong activities, actions and how do we prevent that from happening in the future. Any delay extends the possibility that similar situations can reappear,” Aquino explained. (with a report by Roy C. Mabasa)