The Philippine Online Chronicles

The much anticipated Impeachment Trial of Chief Justice Corona began last January 16. The country waited avidly to see the proof, hear the various testimonies against the Chief Justice and to see our democratic process at work.

Everyone wanted to hear about the 40 plus properties including a penthouse suite. Everyone wanted to see just how far the political love affair between Corona and the former president extended. A part of the people wanted to see the Chief Magistrate go down in flames. Everyone wanted to see the no wangwang at work and finally see how the current administration is cleaning house, starting with the third branch of government.

Better than Valium

There has been much build up to the weeks leading to the trial, so to actually see things unfold oh so slowly on television is a little anti climactic. Sometimes, watching the proceedings was better than taking Valium.

That’s how slow and how boring it can get. It seemed like to spice things up, the prosecutors and defense team would facetiously and excessively call each other and refer to the members of the Senate “your Honor,” although honor has long been thrown out of the halls of Senate, what with some of the clowns that pass for lawmakers nowadays. There’s even that ridiculous show of Mano Po displayed by prosecution lawyer Mario Bautista kissing the hand of retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas. Way to get your picture on the papers!

Those hoping for Perry Mason style courtroom proceedings and John Grisham style suspense were left disappointed at how tedious the impeachment process could be. In many instances, it got so technical, especially when the defense would object to the prosecution, citing several technicalities and legalities.

Because the proceedings themselves were rather slow and boring, most people just shut off their sets and went about their daily way. For lack of headlining news to deliver, the news actually became about how the session ended early, as it did last Tuesday.

As the impeachment trial unfolded, some things began to emerge. Here were some things that could be readily seen by the people.

The prosecution seemed ill-prepared

In true PNoy fashion, the President once again expressed an opinion that seemed in contrast with reality. He declared that he was pleased with the way the trial was proceeding and how well the prosecution team had performed. He also noted “They were able to bring out what needed to be brought out and place on record what needed to be placed on record.”

This was of course in contrast to observations made by other legal professionals as well as by the people in media. After all the inflammatory remarks made in the media in the weeks leading to the trial, the prosecution had whetted the appetite of the people so we obviously were expecting much more than what we saw.

Subpoenas not granted

The prosecution got off to a rocky start when their request to subpoena the Chief Justice himself, along with his wife and family members, was not approved by the Senator Judges. It seemed like one of the key elements to the prosecution’s case was to have Renato Corona implicate himself, and have his wife and family explain their properties.

Now there’s even a measure to look into the incomes of Corona’s daughter, as well as that of her husband to help explain why they were able to buy prime property in the posh village of La Vista in Quezon City, the same village where the former president also owns a house.

It was even thanks to Senator Judge Franklin Drilon that the statements of assets and liabilities (SALN) of Corona were finally admitted to the court. With the way these things are going, the SALN of Corona is grossly undervalued.

Non-sequential presentation of the Articles of Impeachment

The trial ended early during the first few days since the prosecution wanted to begin with the second article of impeachment rather than the first. Since one comes before two, everyone was expecting that the articles of impeachment would be tackled in sequence. Although there’s no rule against this, it would have helped facilitate the proceedings better since the judges themselves would know what to expect.

Witness not available

Next, there was no one to testify on the documents presented. Computer generated documents even with a bar code aren’t sufficient. Since anyone can produce even a diploma from any premiere university in the country by simply going to Quiapo, then it made sense that every single document brought in should be verified. We need proof and credible testimony.

Documents were unmarked

Also, the documents brought to the court should have been marked previously. Having to do this during the trial was a waste of time. The Speaker of the House himself had the prosecution to mark the pages of the documents so then all a witness had to do was to testify on the authenticity of the documents.

The family unit is still being preserved

One good thing about the impeachment proceedings is that there is still respect for the family. The sanctity of the family is being preserved in the non-granting of the subpoenas for the Corona family to testify against the Chief Justice. At least the Arroyo family has something to look forward to when their turn comes.

The defense was ready to put up a good offense

On day one of the trial, the Chief Justice, his family and supporters gathered and said they were ready to put up a defense to put all the allegations to rest. He even pointed out who his enemies were and who were behind the impeachment proceedings, naming no less than the president as wanting to bring him down.

The Corona defense team is obviously better equipped to handle a trial. They are after all, legal professionals.

The Senate President is surprisingly fair

Looks like Sen. Pres. Enrile came to court prepared to mediate and act like Solomon. He’s decisive and is able to keep the halls of Senate from becoming a circus, although he’s still unable to keep things from being too slow or boring since tediousness is part of an impeachment trial.

Parking lots can cost P1M

The evidence presented showed that the Chief Justice owned quite a number of real estate properties. The prices of some of these properties are enough to blow the socks off the man on the street. Even if you don’t know that one comes before two, you know that one million for a parking lot is a lot of money at that.

Not bad for a first week. Let’s see how things unfold for the coming days. Hopefully, the impeachment trial doesn’t last too long.

Screen cap from PTV Philippines livestream. Some rights reserved.