Mongaya: Impeachment court terror

Monday, January 30, 2012

NO, Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago is not a terrorist. She only strikes terror at the impeachment court now trying Chief Justice Renato Corona, especially unprepared congressmen-prosecutors.

Even Senate President and impeachment court presiding officer Juan Ponce Enrile was obviously avoiding embarrassing scenes by not crossing Miriam when she’s on the warpath. It seems only her high-blood pressure is stopping her.

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I just find it difficult to reconcile her strict demeanor, though, with her call for flexibility in allowing the presentation of prosecution evidence and thus avoid the second envelop mistake during the Estrada impeachment trial 11 years ago.

To recall, a majority vote to stop the opening of a second envelop containing evidence triggered Edsa 2.

But then, the prosecution panel seemed bent on showing the Filipino people how not to present evidence. Imagine, admitting on the first day that they were unprepared!

During the first week, Corona’s defense lead counsel former justice Serafin Cuevas ran circles around the prosecution led by Rep. Niel Tupas. He almost succeeded in preventing the presentaton of Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities, and networth or (SALN).

Good that Senator-juror Franklin Drilon did a good job of grilling the Supreme Court (SC) clerk of court and forced the reluctant submission of Chief Justice Corona’s SALN.

Last week, Sen. Miriam again showed how weak the prosecutors are.

When Miriam asked Cuevas how many witnesses and documents they would present, the wily old defense counsel immediately produced a number. At least 25, he said. It means, it could be also 26 or even a hundred.

But Rep. Tupas froze. Like Cuevas, he could have bluffed his way out of embarassment.

I am just glad that the documentary evidences presented are giving us a picture of possibly why Corona is not fit to sit as chief justice. Still, I want to see how Cuevas can get him out of this and how the senator-jurors will vote.

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Will Corona resign if Church leaders join the call for the chief justice to resign? Some political observers see this as a possibility.

So far, it seems most bishops are reserving public comments about the impeachment trial except for one retired bishop who expressed support for Corona. The priest who celebrated a mass at the Supreme Court at the start of the impeachment trial also spoke favorably of Corona.

But I still await a statement from the Visayas Discernment Group composed of bishops and priests as well as the CBCP.

But if ever Corona resigns, we would be missing again the spectacle of Sen. Miriam raising hell live on television.

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While writing this column, friends began texting me that my politika2013.wordpress.com was suspended by Wordpress.com because it allegedly violated the terms of service. For the past weeks, I have been posting almost daily opinions about the Corona trial and getting around 100 to 300 views a day with over 1,600 Facebook followers. That’s what the stats said shortly before the suspension.

Reviewing the TOS, however, I could not find any violation and I am still waiting for the Wordpress explanation. Now, I suspect that some people who did not like the opinions posted could have sent complaints, which Wordpress staff just automatically acted on by suspending the account.

Unfortunately, I learned from various forums that this is one drawback of blogs using the free Wordpress.com service. And those who experienced this advised that I start blogging with my own domain and host. Well, guys, that’s what I intend to do.
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Last week, I wrote about questions raised by Manila-based opinion-makers on the lamppost issue. With former Ombudsman Merci Gutierrez out of the way, people are now asking why the big fishes based in Manila who ordered and prepared all the documentation regarding the project got off the hook. This should be comforting for the small fry and former mayors Teddy Ouano and Boy Radaza.

Something else is also making Radaza happy. I received a copy via email of the decision of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) en banc, dated Jan. 4, 2012, on the electoral protest filed by defeated congressional candidate Joselito Ruiz. The Comelec dismissed the complaint for lack of merit. The electoral body, likewise, ordered the conduct of a preliminary investigation of Ruiz.

(inbetweencoumns.wordpress.com)