DECIDE
MANILA, DECEMBER 29, 2011
(INQUIRER) There's The Rub By: Conrado de Quiros Philippine Daily
Inquirer - You hear all sorts of things these days. One of those is that
there would be no impeachment trial next year because Renato Corona would resign
before it starts.
I'd be very disappointed if he did, and not just because I am a Filipino and
hell hath no fury than Filipinos deprived of a mighty entertainment. But I
wouldn't be surprised if he did.
Impeachment trials are nowhere near the kinds of trials lawyers, judges and
even justices are used to. They are the most transparent thing in the world.
They are the most revealing thing in the world. They are not a courtroom drama,
though there's that too, and part of the entertainment. They are a morality
tale, as riveting as a soap opera but one that imparts profound lessons in life.
The easiest thing to do is to put up a brave front and dare the world to do its
worst. The hardest thing in the world to do is to face the cameras and have
oneself made an object of scrutiny by the peanut-crunching gallery.
I wasn't at all surprised when Merceditas Gutierrez resigned before she got
dragged to the Senate. Look what happened to Erap. Before his impeachment, he
was one of the most popular persons on earth. He had won by more votes than any
president in this country, and though he had fallen out of grace with the upper
crust, not least with repeated displays of "ABS" (alak, babae, sugal) during
meetings of the "midnight Cabinet," he still carried the masa with him. Not so
after the impeachment began. A month or so later, Erap was no longer being
looked up to by the masa, he was being laughed at by the masa. Text jokes were
flying thick and fast, which had none of the qualities of the "Eraptions" which
made him an endearing simple fellow. These ones were far more biting, making him
out to be a harmful buffoon.
The impeachment dragged out every detail of his life, from the mistresses he
housed in luxurious places all over Metro Manila to the shady deals he made, not
least in illegal gambling, all over the country. Clarissa Ocampo's testimony
proved telling, not just because of her revelation that Erap was Jose Velarde
but also because of her revelation that he signed a check that way in her
presence, giving the impression of someone trying to impress a woman with his
boundless power. Erap's battery of high-powered lawyers did not help, they made
things worse. They merely reminded the country of his own movies where the
contrabida, chiefly Manoy Eddie Garcia, a wonderful actor and person (which only
shows how deceptive showbiz can be), had a retinue of thugs in three-piece suits
arrayed against the hard-luck bida with the heart of gold. The symbolisms sent a
far more powerful message than what was actually said.
Corona by no means enjoys Erap's popularity. The surveys alone show in how
low esteem he is held by the public. The same surveys show in how low esteem his
arguments about "rule of law" are held by the public. The people are not fools
and can see through palusot with the instinct of the oppressed. They can see
through the kinds of legal technicalities, or plain gobbledygook, that have
deprived them of land, decent wages and opportunities in life.
The public's capacity for discernment is magnified 10 times in an impeachment
trial, with the cameras giving a face to utterances. The public won't buy their
legalisms. It will see them the way they see the madrastas in Sharon Cuneta's
movies, people trying to disguise naked power with twisted logic. And will
regard them in exactly the same way: as the characters they love to hate.
Far more than that, the impeachment trial won't just turn Corona's life
inside out, it will turn his family's life inside out. Chief of them his wife,
who also stands accused of all sorts of things, not least evading taxes. We will
see what stuff they are made of.
The point is simple: Corona and his cabal may imagine that trials are their
turf. Trials are about citing obscure passages from the statute books, trials
are about holding court in more ways than one. They may imagine that they can
control the environment, they can manipulate how things will go. If so, then
they are wrong, dead wrong. Impeachments have their own dynamics. Impeachments
have own set of rules. Not least, in an ordinary trial, the judge is the person
sitting on the bench, in an impeachment, the judge is everyone watching TV. Erap
learned that the hard way. In the end, they weren't pleading their case before
Hilario Davide and the senators, they were pleading their case before the
people.
Which brings me to why I wish Corona would stick it out. That is because he
is not the only one being tried in this case, the whole judicial system is. The
whole Supreme Court is. The whole system whereby the justices use the law the
way the Pharisees did religion, to lie and obfuscate, to abuse and oppress, to
grow wealthy and more powerful, is.
For far too long have the justices managed beyond the public gaze, under
cover of darkness or their courts, over which they hold absolute power, or the
power of life and death, to unleash a not very petty tyranny. The kind where by
the mere invocation of a law they can make wrong right, the way a sorcerer by
the mere invocation of secret charms can turn black into white. The kind that
would push back finality the way embalmers push back death.
About time the glare of public attention was put on them. About time the
searchlight was aimed at them like prisoners of a camp trying to escape. About
time the light of truth penetrated into the dark corners of their corridors. The
impeachment trial will expose their doings to the world. The impeachment will
bring every shady deal they have made, every corner they have cut, every
injustice they have committed to the light of day.
The people will know.
The people will decide.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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