Wenceslao: Will SC provide the ending?

Sunday, February 12, 2012

WILL the Supreme Court present an ending to the impeachment trial of its own chief justice, Renato Corona?  That is an interesting question to answer as the senator-judges of the Senate acting as an impeachment court discuss today the issuance by the High Court of a temporary restraining order (TRO) preventing them from looking into Corona’s dollar accounts in Philippine Savings Bank (PS Bank).

The TRO is the first interference by the High Court of the Corona impeachment proceedings, and it may not be the last. Still pending is a petition by Corona and his defense lawyers for the SC to issue another TRO, this time to prevent the impeachment court from proceeding with the trial. Court Administrator Midas Marquez had hinted that the SC justices will tackle that petition this week.

In the impeachment trial of former president Joseph Estrada in 2001, the senator-judges were the ones that provided an ending to the proceeding by refusing to open an envelope containing information on Estrada’s “Jose Velarde” bank account. The attempt to prevent the truth from coming out enraged the people and resulted in the ouster of Estrada from the presidency through what is now known as Edsa 2.

This time, it is the High Court, if it insists on issuing a TRO that will prevent the impeachment trial from proceeding, that may give Corona the avenue to prevent the truth about his dollar accounts and other questioned acts from coming out. It may or it may not spark people’s anger, but it will damage the credibility not only of Corona but also the justices who will vote for the issuance of the TRO.

Corona should heed past lessons, though. He should not delude himself that he has the support of the people on this one. He may have some vociferous supporters who in past rallies in front of the SC building bowed low to him and sang hosannas for him every time he and his wife appeared on the balcony, teary-eyed and all. But those supporters are few compared with those who are patiently waiting for the truth about Corona to come out. Enraged, these people are capable of toppling even a dictatorship.

***
    Michael Jackson. Amy Winehouse. And now Whitney Houston. The American whose songs are staples in karaoke bars in the Philippines and whose style is being mimicked by young Filipina singers is dead. Houston’s body was found in a hotel in Beverly Hills, California yesterday on the eve of today’s Grammy awards rites. Details about her death are few, but police did not find “obvious signs of criminal intent in her death.”

Jackson, Winehouse and Houston were big names in the international music scene, but went through troubled times. Houston was battling drug addiction and alcoholism after making it big in the ‘80s and the ‘90s. After reaching rock bottom, many thought she was on the way to recovery, even appearing in a soon-to-be released film “Sparkle” that a CNN report said is loosely based on the story of the singing group The Supremes.

I watched reports on the initial reactions to the singer’s death and I found the observation of Jermaine Jackson, Michael’s brother, interesting. He noted that Michael and Whitney drifted away from their families when they were gobbled up by fame. He said that family would have been the shield that allowed these famous personalities to survive troubled times.

(khanwens@yahoo.com)