TRIBUNE EDITORIAL: DAY OF RECKONING
MANILA, MAY 24, 2012
(DAILY TRIBUNE) To many, today would tip the scale at the
Senate impeachment court in determining the fate of Chief Justice Renato Corona
and end the agonizing trial that had most Filipinos asking about the necessity
for such a drawn-out process.
Corona is basically accused of committing three impeachable offenses which
are his alleged failure to fully disclose his assets in his statement of assets,
liabilities and networth (SALn), his alleged lack of competence, probity,
integrity and independence and his alleged "partiality" in granting a temporary
restraining order on the government's watch list order against former President
and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last Nov. 15.
The allegations against Corona started with eight Articles of Impeachment
which the House prosecutors later reduced to three in an obvious admission of
their lack of evidence to substantiate most of the charges hurled against the
Supreme Court (SC) head.
The whole process had lasted for over five months and from the looks of it,
the ordeal would be repeated yearly if Corona gets an acquittal.
Statements about another impeachment trial awaiting Corona when the one year
grace on the filing of such complaint lapses in December was in itself a threat
directed to the Senate court in going through the pain of the process yearly if
Corona is acquitted.
The impeachment process now seems to hinge on one basic allegation: The Chief
Justice has a $10 million account that he had failed to disclose in his SALn,
ergo, according to Noynoy and his allies, this is solid proof of his corrupt
ways.
The House prosecutors, however, had failed to offer proof on their
allegations against Corona and it took the presentation of witnesses by the
defense for them to gain a measure of hope in proving the alleged fat dollar
bank accounts of Corona.
The fact that it was the defense panel that presented Ombudsman Conchita
Carpio-Morales to the witness stand and from whom was revealed the alleged bank
documents showing an astounding 82 bank accounts of Corona in which a total of
$10 million moved in and out, may indicate that something is up the sleeve of
Corona's lawyers.
Corona's appearance before the Senate court is definitely the climax of the
trial, a fitting conclusion for it in which the accused, the head of the
judiciary branch of government, will be defending himself on the witness stand.
Noynoy and his yellow cabal have been waiting for the event since his allies
initiated and railroaded Corona's impeachment at the House of Representatives
some five months back. To them, the ultimate humiliation of Corona is putting
him on the hot seat to be grilled by the House prosecutors and allies of Noynoy
among the senator-judges.
What Corona would say is expected to be analyzed and digested by the nation
which is becoming inure to what transpires in the almost daily proceedings.
This is when most Filipinos are expected to form their opinion on what some
hold is an entirely political process where the sentiment of the nation counts
heavily, something akin to an American Idol vote process.
Noynoy and his allies are relying on an adverse public opinion against Corona
to boot him out of his post, which has been the obsession of Noynoy since he
stepped into the presidency, claiming the necessity to clean up the judiciary in
attaining his claimed straight path of governance and in reclaiming the SC "for
the people."
What is being bruited about, however, is that the oust-Corona campaign is
mostly about the SC's final decision on distributing the vast Hacienda Luisita
estate owned by the relatives of Noynoy and a pending election protest case of
defeated vice presidential candidate and Noynoy doppelganger Mar Roxas.
Noynoy and his yellow cabal contend that the effort to clean up the
government would become meaningless if Corona is retained at his post.
Those who know better, however, hold that the independence of the judiciary
is at stake in the outcome of Noynoy's effort to reclaim the SC starting with
the removal of Corona.
How the Senate court rules will definitely shape the rest of Noynoy's
lackluster regime.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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