Roperos: Democracy on trial

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

WHATEVER else the international community may say about the impeachment trial against the head of one of the three constitutional branches of government, the fact remains that our national leaders have comported themselves with utmost caution, objectivity, and maturity, in accordance with dictates of their conscience, and of our Constitution.

This could be gleaned from the way they acted and behaved during the first two days of the trial. It could be due to the media coverage. Of course, all members of the prosecution and defense would like to project themselves as looking good on television or have palatable reports in the dailies.

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At this point in the trial, it is not yet definite what the sentiment of the individual senator-judge is. But the initial public impression is that there prevails high objectivity and credibility among the judges. There is a sense of orderliness in the proceedings, and a sense of sobriety seems to prevail in the “court room.”

Earlier, in a press conference called by Totol Batuhan, we learned that lawyer-volunteers from the private sector were organized into eight teams to assist the House prosecutors in the course of the trial. Each team is assigned to one of the eight Articles of Impeachment. A ninth team was tasked, so I understand, to consolidate the results of the proceedings from the eight other teams.

I think, though, that this early, it is difficult to say whether Chief Justice Renato Corona would be ousted or not. There is a lot of guessing game going on among the people, especially from those who have stakes in our judicial system.

To be sure, there are some sort of divided thoughts among our people, especially those who are lawyers or are deeply interested in the conduct of our justice system. There are many, of course, who believe that Corona should carefully weigh his chances of surviving his ordeal.

They think that there seems to be a preponderance of evidence against him in the matter of his properties whose value many could not believe he would have that much funds to acquire.

His being close to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo seemed to place him in privileged position that offered him opportunities to amass wealth, utilizing the power and influence of his political proximity to the then president.

However the ongoing impeachment trial will eventually turn out, the state of our country’s democracy would be seen as robust and respectable in the eyes of global observers. That our democracy has definitely matured, and our political leaders have shown such sense of maturity in this trial, should be subject of deep pride.