PHNO-OPINION: GUILT BY HYPOCRISY

OPINION: GUILT BY HYPOCRISY
MANILA, MAY 26, 2012
(STANDARD) by Manila Standard Today - Without condition,
qualification, or equivocation, Chief Justice Renato Corona has submitted his
waiver to the Senate impeachment court.
The Bank Secrecy Law and the Foreign Currency Deposits Act
notwithstanding, he has opened both his peso and dollar accounts to the scrutiny
of the accusers that took him to court, the senator-judges deciding his fate,
and the public-at-large for whose benefit and on whose behalf the impeachment
was supposedly initiated.
Impeached, disgraced, and portrayed as the personification of evil itself,
the Chief Justice has raised the stake on his persecutors—within the impeachment
court and, more importantly, outside of it.
In court, the Senate has noted the submission of the waiver though emphasized
that it is not a "producer" but a "hearer" of evidence. It will not summon
concerned banks and their representatives, which neither the prosecution nor the
defense is willing to present as witnesses.
Outside of court, however, the signed waiver sends a message that
reverberates well beyond the halls of the Senate all the way to the walls of the
Palace, rocking its self-proclaimed pillars of accountability and transparency.

Amid the tremors, the President of the Republic, his appointees, and all his
allies in all branches of government—all those that had initiated and supported
the impeachment process in the name of good governance—could no longer take
refuge in the convenient excuse, "we are not on trial here."
No excuse could be so simplistic; nothing as evasive; nothing, equally
pathetic.
Corona, regardless of his diminished credibility, said the single most
important statement of the proceeding: "we are all on trial here."
The man who has had two by-passes had the heart to authorize the opening of
his bank accounts while those that had, all the while, pontificated in the name
of transparency, cowered at the prospect of being judged by the very standards
they self-righteously impose on others.
Renato Corona—ironically, the accused —whether acquitted or convicted, has
turned the tables on his accusers. He may be defeated in court but outside of it
he has produced "evidence," blanket and damning, against those without the same
gumption to affix their signatures on a similar waiver.
In the same court of public opinion where they had previously trotted around
with their moralizing, at worst, these "guardians of morality" have just been
charged equal guilt for non-full disclosure and at best, proven without an iota
of doubt, guilt for supreme hypocrisy.
In 2010, Liberal Party presidential and vice presidential candidates Benigno
Aquino III and Mar Roxas, respectively, boldly proclaimed they would sign a
waiver authorizing full disclosure of their bank accounts should they be elected
into office.
"This is in line with the advocacy of Noynoy Aquino and myself for honest and
clean governance … I will propose to Noynoy (Aquino) that this be made to apply
to him and to all Cabinet secretaries," promised Roxas.
Two years later, the statement proved nothing more than a stone-cold bluff,
forgotten and folded, issued and withdrawn with the flimsy disclaimer "we are
not on trial here."


Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved




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