AGAINST JUDICIARY / NOT MUCH WITNESSES TO PROVE CJ GUILT
MANILA, FEBRUARY 28,
2012 (YAHOO NEWS) By Norman Bordadora in
Manila/Inquirer | Asia News Network – Twenty-six years after millions
flocked to Edsa to overthrow a dictator, President Benigno Aquino III on
Saturday rallied Filipinos to take action against the judiciary that, he said,
like martial law was one of the ¿wrongs committed in the past¿ that needed to be
corrected.
Apparently continuing on a recent favourite theme, the condemnation of
impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona, Aquino urged ¿immediate action,¿ saying
martial law happened because people decades ago chose to keep silent until they
could no longer bear the sufferings it brought the country.
"Now, after 26 years, it is clear that our fight is not yet finished,¿ Aquino
said in a speech during the Edsa anniversary ceremonies at the People Power
Monument.
"As we link our arms in the straight path, I trust that we can reach a
society that is free from a judiciary with two faces¿one with a partial justice
system and another with balanced scales,¿ he said.
As in previous speeches attacking Corona, the president urged the people to
participate and act as the Chief Justice¿s trial at the Senate impeachment court
enters its seventh week.
"If you want to remain in the old system, go ahead and pretend to be deaf.
Pretend to be blind. Don¿t speak. Don¿t participate,¿ he said.
"But if you believe that there¿s something wrong in the system and that this
has to be corrected, let¿s go and push back (Tara, pumalag tayo). Let¿s
participate. Let¿s make it right,¿ he added.
The President made these remarks in the presence of three
senator-judges who were sitting onstage with him¿Senate President Juan Ponce
Enrile, Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Sen. Gregorio Honasan.
Enrile and Honasan were among the military and defense leaders who went
against the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the first Edsa People Power Revolution
in February 1986. Enrile was the then defense minister and Honasan was his chief
security aide and leader of the Reform the Armed Forces Movement, or RAM.
Weedy and straight paths
"Our country is now facing a crossroad. In one direction is the weedy path,
where the influential holds the scales of justice and those who manipulate the
law benefit,¿ Aquino said.
"In the other is the straight path where the rules are clear, justice favours
no one and those who are at fault are made answerable. Let¿s remember: Martial
law happened because Filipinos kept silent for too long,¿ he said.
"As was said way before, ¿Kung hindi ka kikilos, sino pa? Kung hindi ngayon,
kailan pa?¿ Let us now move before it¿s too late. Let us now move so that we can
quickly leave behind the darkness in the past,¿ he said.
In another speech earlier Saturday, following wreath-laying rites at the
monuments in Manila of his parents¿the late former President Corazon Aquino and
martyred opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr.¿and the late Jaime Cardinal Sin,
the president pressed on with his anti-Corona theme.
Filipinos have an opportunity to effect change, they should not waste it, he
said.
"Unity, concern and love for country. Let us use these for the legacy of Edsa
to be fruitful. Let us not waste this opportunity. This is our time. This is our
time. Let¿s go, Filipino,¿ he said.
He said working for reforms is the duty of every Filipino, ¿not just of Ninoy
and Cory Aquino.¿
Record highs
In his speech, the President also said investor confidence in the
Philippines was at a record high during his 19-month administration, as shown by
439-billion peso (US$14.4 billion) worth of investments that have poured into
the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza).
The amount already represents 22 per cent of the 2.003-trillion peso ($65
billion) worth of investments that went into the Peza since 1995, he said.
Aquino made the remarks amid criticism that the economy slowed down during
his administration because of his alleged preoccupation with politics and going
after perceived political foes, including former President Gloria Arroyo and
Chief Justice Corona.
"After one and a half years of the straight path, let us ask ourselves: Is
there a difference between our system now and the system that we came upon
before when for almost a decade Filipinos were affected by graft and
corruption?¿ Aquino said.
"The correct answer: It¿s a huge difference,¿ he said.
The president said the international financial community has placed much
confidence in the country because of the reforms his administration has been
carrying out.
Bragging rights
"We are not one to brag but when the country has registered all-time highs in
the stock index 16 times and when Moody¿s, Standard and Poor¿s and Fitch
credit-rating raised our grade several times, this is no longer called
bragging,¿ he said.
"This is called reforms and results,¿ he said.
Aquino said the Japan External Trade Organisation has also declared that the
Philippines is an ideal destination for businessmen in Asia in both
manufacturing and services sectors.
He said the organisation cited the country¿s skilled workers and the
affordability of doing business in the country.
"This kind of success isn¿t achieved by chance,¿ he added.
He said his government has ¿dismantled the barricades of poverty using our
conditional cash transfer programme.¿
He said the target of getting 2.3 million families into the programme in 2011
has been exceeded by 45,000 before the year ended.
Rehashed speeches
The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) said Aquino¿s Edsa
anniversary speech was just a rehash of his previous ¿daang matuwid¿ (straight
path) rhetoric, and just glorified his administration¿s conditional cash
transfer programme and improved ratings from foreign agencies.
Bayan said the nation may have another Aquino at the helm, but this is not
necessarily a sign of better things to come. Human rights violations continue,
victims of the Marcos dictatorship have yet to receive true and complete
justice, human rights violations victims during the Arroyo administration have
yet to receive their due as well, it said. Hunger, poverty, unemployment and US
intervention continue, Bayan said.
"We commemorate Edsa I not because it represents a heroism that is singularly
ascribed to any one person or political colour. We commemorate Edsa I because it
represents the Filipino people¿s dreams and aspirations that have yet to be
fulfilled,¿ said Bayan secretary general Renato Reyes.
"And these dreams and aspirations will not likely be fulfilled even under the
second Aquino regime. We definitely have no illusions in that regard,¿ he
further said.
Don¿t just criticise
But for Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle, it will not do for people to
just sit and criticise.
"Let everyone be involved. Don¿t wait to be critics alone,¿ the young
archbishop told the hundreds of devotees who continued to pour in even after his
homily had started at the noontime Mass on Saturday at the Edsa Shrine.
Tagle told reporters his message was not addressed to any person in
particular.
Change, after all, cannot be achieved by one person alone, or only by the
people who hold positions of power, he said.
"Do not leave the responsibility up to the (people in government),¿ he said.
This was what God did in the first place, Tagle said. The Supreme Being chose
several people, and not only one man, to be the ¿light of this world,¿ he said.
Bayan denounced the president for allegedly using the Corona impeachment and
Arroyo trial to hide his inutile position on the series of oil price increases.
"Aquino has long betrayed the spirit of the Edsa by not standing with the
people¿s demand for genuine land reform, nationalist industrialisation and
upholding national patrimony over foreign interests,¿ said Bayan Negros
secretary-general Christian Tuayon. With reports from
Kristine Felisse Mangunay, Leila B. Salaverria and Carla P. Gomez, Inquirer
Visayas COPYRIGHT: ASIA NEWS NETWORK
With not much witnesses to prove CJ guilt, prosecution
scolded By Shielo Mendoza | Yahoo! Southeast Asia Newsroom – 11 hours
ago
[PHOTO - Members of the prosecution panel, led by Congressman Niel
Tupas Jr. (seated), gather during the second day of the impeachment trial of
Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona at the Philippine Senate in Manila
January 17, 2012. The trial was adjourned Tuesday upon the petition of the
prosecution. REUTERS/Bullit Marquez/Pool]
Senator-judges on Day 24 of the impeachment trial told the prosecution team
to get their act together and stop relying to the court to do the job for them.
This means the prosecution should produce witnesses on their own instead of
requesting subpoena all the time.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile announced that Senator Antonio Trillanes
III already withdrawn his motion to send written questions to Associate Justice
Maria Lourdes Sereno, saying that it is the prosecution's responsibility to
bring the justice to the impeachment court.
The prosecution wants Sereno to testify on Article VII of the impeachment
complaint which accuses Chief Justice Renato Corona of acting in favor of former
president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo when the Supreme Court issued a temporary
restraining order against the government's hold departure order.
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima earlier testified that Sereno's dissenting
opinion allegedly revealed the irregularities committed by the SC, particularly
by Corona, on the issuance of TRO. The court, however, ruled De Lima's
testimonies as hearsay.
Senator-judges advised the prosecution to talk to Sereno first instead of
using compulsory process of the impeachment court.
"Bakit hindi niyo muna imbitahin si Justice Sereno? Kayong prosecution dapat
kinausap niyo yung gusto niyong testigo at dalhin dito," Enrile said.
"Nalalagay po kami sa alanganin. Tuwing may gusto kayong tumestigo,
hinihingan niyo kami ng subpoena," Senator Francis Escudero likewise told the
prosecution.
Senator Panfilo Lacson added, "Bakit niyo kami isinusubo sa hindi niyo kayang
gawin?"
But Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares pointed out that the SC
resolution, which prohibits justices from testifying in the trial, is preventing
them from getting witnesses.
"Reluctant ang witnesses namin kasi siguro si chief justice ang kalaban,"
Colmenares added.
"Kung isusubpoena ba namin si Sereno at hindi siya pumayag, inaasahan niyo ba
na icocontempt namin siya?" Enrile told Colmenares. "Kaya nagdadahan-dahan ang
korteng ito dahil may iniiwasan tayong mangyari."
Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago noted that the prosecution is putting the
Senate in direct collision with the SC.
"Pagisipan muna natin ito! Hindi ito pataasan ng ihi! You are asking us to
overturn the Supreme Court. What if she doesn't follow? Malaking kahihiyan iyon
sa impeachment court!" an irked Santiago said.
Senator Joker Arroyo also noted that the prosecution should have no problem
getting witnesses.
"I'm amazed by statement of the prosecution that they have difficulty
inviting Sereno because the respondent is chief justice. You have the backing of
no less that the president of the Philippines. You should have no problem
getting witnesses," Arroyo said.
Santiago further hit the prosecution for declaring earlier that they will
present more than a hundred witnesses then later trim them down to 15.
"What on earth were you thinking? Were you playing games with us when you
were asked how many witnesses you will present? Were you aiming for trial by
publicity? Huwag ninyo kaming lokohin dito!" she yelled at the prosecution.
Santiago also scored the House panel for personally attacking senator-judges
for their alleged bias in the trial.
"Are you trying to intimidate the impeachment court into doing what you want?
Irespeto niyo ang impeachment court! Huwag kayong umatake ng personal!" she
said.
"I think to myself, 'What will lawyers outside our country think when they
read the transcript?' You are an insult to the intelligence of Filipinos!"
Santiago told the prosecution.
She added that she has evidence against a congressman who testified in the
court. "I can prove that he is lying under oath. Be careful!"
Meanwhile, defense lead counsel Serafin Cuevas maintained that when the House
members filed the impeachment complaint, they had no evidence on hand and was
merely doing a fishing expedition in the course of the trial.
"It is our opinion the complaint was haphazardly prepared, railroaded, thrown
into the lap of impeachment court," Cuevas said.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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