CORONA STAYS CHIEF JUSTICE

By Mauro Gia Samonte

By our earlier posts, have we misread the Senate proceedings?

Essentially, I don’t think we did.

We were picturing a Senate thrown between the devil and the deep blue sea by accepting very much flawed articles of impeachment against Chief Justice Renato C. Corona. This gave the defense a formidable shield against any possible adverse decision the impeachment court would render at the end of the trial. That was back in February when the defense filed a petition at the Supreme Court to stop the proceedings precisely on grounds of the infirmities in the impeachment complaints.

Read More

And then again, also as early as February a petition was lodged at the High Court for the issuance of a Temporay Restrining Order (TRO) against disclosure of the Corona dollar accounts, invoking the absolute secrecy of such accounts as provided for by R.A. 6426. Neither the petition to stop the proceedings has been decided upon by the Supreme Court nor the TRO on dollar accounts lifted.

The issue we are faced with now is: Has Senate the right to sidestep (Or is “ignore” a better term?) the Supreme Court on the petition and on the TRO. The Senate had proceeded with the trial as if there was no petition at the High Court asking to stop it. Surely the Senate had been provided a copy of the petition.

As to the TRO on the dollar accounts, it was very clear to the Senate that it could not pry open those accounts, and yet when Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales presented documents supposedly provided by the Anti Money Laundering Act Council (AMLAC) on those dollar accounts, the Senate accepted the documents as evidence as though there was not a TRO to that effect.

It was fine enough that the impeachment trial went on while awaiting the Supreme Court decision on the petition for prohibition of the proceedings. The trial had gone on for months and it was taking a toll on everyone’s forbearance, including that of the public at large.

But to proceed all the way to rendering a verdict, had not the Senate acted wrongly by not clarifying first the unsettled issues before the Supreme Court?

If only as a matter of courtesy to the highest court of the land, that should have been the Senate’s prudent move. If on such relatively small matter as the medical report of CJ Corona’s health condition Senate Impeachment Court Presiding Officer Juan Ponce Enrile would take judicial notice, why did he not think at all of taking such judicial notice on the matter of the two pending issues at the Supreme Court? Those were crucial issues that should heavily bear upon the decision-making of each of the 23 senator-judges of the impeachment court.

What was so pressing for the Senate that, as Presiding Senator-Judge Enrile declared firmly, the impeachment trial had to be finished no later than May 31? Senator Enrile himself dwelt lengthily on the many lapses in procedures and contemptuous conduct by the prosecution in the gathering and presentation of evidence – lapses that in the hands of an upright court are more than enough grounds to merit acquittal for the Chief Justice.

But no, never mind the lapses. Never mind the vicious machinations and tragic transgressions upon legal processes. Cast all pretentions to noble intentions to the wind. Nobility has no place in an exercise conceived in deceit and hypocrisy and meant only to advance one man’s supreme obstinate obsession to crush the Chief Justice for reasons the whole nation now knows.

So we have everybody sighing with relief. From the prosecution, to the defense, to the Senator Judges. All are thankful that the first-ever successful impeachment trial in Philippine history is over.

Wait a minute.

Nothing is over that is not over.

Surely, 20 Senator-Judges voted guilty, 3 innocent.

What’s the sentence?

Nothing!

In their haste to crush the Chief Justice, they forgot to say by which to crush him.

You don’t just go hanging a man all because you convicted him of murder. Penalties for crimes are gradated according to the gravity of the offense.

And Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago made it clear early on that removal from office is not automatic a penalty for an impeached public official. Depending on the gravity of the offense, the impeachment court may just opt for a censure, in which case the impeached official stays in office.

Chief Justice Corona must remain in office, The Supreme Court cannot order his removal.

There is no order to remove him!

What about the Senate? Back to our original proposition: a hostage of events it would not have wanted to get caught in.

The die is cast the second time around.

Read More