SURVIVAL IN QUESTION
MANILA, MARCH 9,
2012 (MALAYA) MALACAÑANG yesterday said
President Aquino appointed the father and siblings of Iloilo Rep. and
impeachment prosecution team head Niel Tupas Jr. to government positions but
denied that it was a political accommodation or reward.
Presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the appointments were made long
before the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Lacierda said the congressman's father, Niel Tupas Sr., was nominated by
Malacañang as executive director of the Philippine National Oil Company on Nov.
1, 2011 while sister Nielette Tupas-Balleza was nominated to the board of the
Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office in May 2011.
Tupas' brother Raul was appointed Director 3 of the Department of Agriculture
on Sept. 30, 2011.
Lacierda also announced the promotion of National Archives chief executive
officer Virginia Darluco and Presidential Management Staff-Governance Policy
Office Director Anna Maria Cadena to deputy executive director and assistant
secretary, respectively, of their agencies.
He also announced the appointment of Leandro Catalo as presiding judge of
Muntinlupa Regional Trial Court Branch 256 and of judges Marie Lynn Andal,
Suzanne Cobarrubias-Navaza, Maria Cecilia Ty-Tantua, and Shirley L.
Magsipoc-Pagcalinawan as presiding judges of the Marikina Metropolitan Trial
Court Branches 92, 93, 94, and 95. – Jocelyn Montemayor
ANALYSIS
PNoy'S SURVIVAL IS THE QUESTION NOW
By
Francisco S. Tatad - Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona's Senate
impeachment trial has taken a dramatic turn, and the question now seems to shift
from Corona's own political survival to that of President Benigno Simeon
Cojuangco Aquino III.
After 26 days of trial, marked by serious lapses on the part of the
prosecution, it finally rested its case by dropping five of the eight Articles
of Impeachment against the Chief Justice.
The chances of convicting Corona, which the President is eagerly pushing for,
appear to be getting slimmer by the hour. That is to say, if we go by the merits
of the case.
In sharp contrast, P-Noy is already talking of a mysterious plot, by unnamed
parties, to oust him from power. This looks like sheer paranoia, to some.
Should his claim hold, however, P-Noy would not be the first president to be
ousted or to be so threatened. The last three decades offer enough examples.
Ferdinand Marcos was ousted in 1986; Joseph Ejercito "Erap" Estrada in 2001.
P-Noy's own mother, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, was constantly threatened from
1987 to 1992. So was Gloria Macapagal Arroyo since she replaced Erap in January
2001 until she left office in 2010.
But they never found it necessary nor prudent to announce that nameless
forces were out to get them. For whatever reason, P-Noy is the first one to do
so. But the military knows nothing about it. Even the normally gossipy media and
coffee shops know nothing about it. He alone seems to know about it.
Alone and unaided, P-Noy has put his presidency virtually under siege. The
resulting instability is entirely self-made. But the phantom threat could yet
come to life, and P-Noy's spoken fear fulfill itself, should he continue to
mishandle himself vis-à-vis the sinking case in the Senate.
After the dropping of the five articles, the case against Corona has
crumbled, for all intents and purposes. Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago, for one,
has openly accused the prosecutors of "bad faith," and some critics have pointed
out the complaint was fatally flawed from the very start and should never have
been acted upon at all by the Senate.
The crimes alleged in the remaining three articles fall far below the gravity
of the crimes for which an official may be impeached and removed from office, if
convicted. These are "culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery,
graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust. " Not one
article seems to rise to the level of an "impeachable offense."
The strongest of the three (Article II) alleges Corona's failure to disclose
his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALn). But it fails to
allege graft and corruption, bribery, or ill-gotten wealth. Still the
anti-Corona propagandists have been trying to prove what the complaint does not
allege.
Corona may have misstated certain assets in his statement. At the proper
time, the defense should explain it. But as a matter of practice, nobody seems
to take the SALn all that seriously. Many, if not most, officials leave its
filing to their lawyer, accountant, or secretary. In fact, one would be quite
lucky to find a member of the Cabinet or Congress whose SALn meets the standard
demanded of the respondent Chief Justice. Corona's accusers may not be half as
innocent as the accused.
But even if the alleged flaws in Corona's SALn were left undisputed, the law
allows him to correct his mistakes. The bad news for the prosecution though is
that any purported evidence they had obtained from Corona's bank records may
finally be disallowed, for having been illegally obtained.
It is now public knowledge that the prosecution used an illegally leaked bank
document to pry open Corona's confidential records. That renders inadmissible
any purported evidence obtained. Such evidence has no standing in court.
However P-Noy could insist that his Senate allies convict Corona, regardless
of the evidence. And not all of them may be able to resist. At least two of them
are known to have separately urged Corona to resign even before the trial
started. Another is said to have lobbied some of his colleagues for their votes
in exchange for "soft projects." Still another is said to have visited some
camps to urge some contacts there to organize something if Corona is acquitted.
Yet another sits as senator-judge while his congressman-son speaks for the
prosecution to the press.
These are at least five senator-judges whose obvious bias against Corona
cannot possibly help them "render impartial justice" to the respondent. They
have every reason to inhibit themselves from the final judgment. But that would
ensure Corona's acquittal, so they are not likely to do it.
Yet a conviction based on P-Noy's intervention rather than on the evidence
could harm the President and the nation more than anything else. The entire
nation may not be able accept nor withstand it. The moral and political thread
that holds our people together could break.
The signs are up. One such sign is the mammoth crowd that filled Manila's
Rizal Park and adjoining areas on Feb. 28—courtesy of the politically powerful
Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), which supported P-Noy in 2010 as presidential
candidate.
That immense sea of humanity drowned the trickle of government workers who
had come to listen to P-Noy's renewed blast against Corona on the anniversary of
Edsa I.
It showed how much drawing power P-Noy really has, independent of the
propaganda pollsters' and the conscript media's claims about his alleged
popularity with the masses.
Billed as purely evangelical, the INC assembly did not have to say a single
word to convey its message to P-Noy. The silence said it all. It was the INC's
strongest statement to him yet.
Depending on how Corona's trial ends, an even bigger crowd could return to
the streets, made up of all the other sectors and religious groups. And it may
no longer be a passive and prayerful crowd.
Is there a way of avoiding it? There should be. But P-Noy must be prepared to
think out of his mechanical box, and listen a little more attentively to those
who have no desire to simply indulge his biases and fantasies.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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