My head aches just thinking of what happened today at the Impeachment trial of CJ Corona. Gosh, it was a pathetic gesture of a man desperate enough to hold on to his position. Here are his famous last words, “And now the Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines wishes to be excused”. Such arrogance, unbecoming of the highest officer of the court of the land. And he should know the law because he is the chief justice.
Here’s what really happened on day 40.
Mom and I waited with bated breath as early as 1pm. It’s democracy in action here, giving a chance to an accused to defend himself and clear his name. Some political analysts said it’s a make or break , the end game so to speak. Take note, this is the second time that the senator-judges are in complete attendance. The Impeachment Court ruled that they cannot issue a subpoena on the bank managers, Enrile rejected the motion. At 2:15pm, the Chief Justice appeared in court. Atty. Mario Bautista, a private lawyer of the Prosecution will conduct the cross-examination. As usual, Atty. Cuevas made manifestations that lengthened the wait for the CJ to testify. I say, get to the point Attorney! The CJ was frightened and confused, according to Tatang Cuevas. He said further that cross-examination should only tackle matters covered by direct examination. Enrile assured Defense of the IC’s neutrality. They will judge the case based on the evidences presented by both sides. Allow me to quote some points raised by the Chief Justice when he was at the witness stand. This is the first time that I’ve seen a witness making a statement that long. He actually used up more than two hours reading his prepared statement with a few complaints raised by the Prosecution but Enrile allowed him to just finish his speech. He was accorded the liberality by the Impeachment Court with unlimited scope and duration. He said that the Aquino government used all its forces and avenues to pin him down. It was a long telenovela without ending.
Walang takot, walang nerbiyos
Ako ay hindi magnanakaw sa gobyerno
Malinis po ang aking konsensiya
Malinis po ang konsensiya ng aking pamilya
Yan po ang pinagdadaanan namin ngayon, kalbaryo po
Malakas ang loob kong lumaban kasi po malinis ang aking konsensiya
Lahat po ng aming ari-arian ay pinaghirapan sa isang malinis na paraan.
Hindi po kailan man kami namuhay ng maluho
Ang mga akusasiyon nila sa akin ay pawang kathang-isip lamang
Atty. Mario Bautista said that this was a highly irregular chief justice taking advantage of this platform. Corona mentioned in his opening statement about people and events not directly related to the case. But Enrile allowed him to continue, that was how lenient they were to the CJ.
Hindi kami gumagamit ng aircon kasi madali kaming magkasakit sa lamig
Hindi kami namili ng magagarang property these past 45 years
He talked about how the Basas (some of them were in the audience) deprived his mother-in-law of her legal rights on their 2 hectare property worth 2.5B pesos in Libis, Quezon City. That was a family feud that dragged on for years. Enrile reminded him that there was no allegation that will support ill-gotten wealth. The evidence on the supposed ill-gotten wealth came from the Defense. The issue was simply the inclusion and exclusion in the SALN. Enrile cautioned Corona on opening himself to cross-examination on ill-gotten wealth. Corona further discussed his cash deposits as reported by AMLC but he said that it came from a polluted source. The $12M dollar in his bank account as testified to by Ombudsman Carpio was a malicious lie. He has only four dollar accounts and has only three deposit accounts. He said that they started investing in dollars since the late 60’s and the money has multiplied after several decades. He challenged the 188 congressmen and Sen. Drilon that they also make a waiver as regards their dollar accounts. That was his condition, he signed a waiver and will give it to the Impeachment Court if they will do the same.
I am no thief. I am no criminal. I did no wrong.
Yes you did no wrong except to stage that walkout on the trial. Did you think that all your Defense team would follow suit? You almost earned my respect because you did a brilliant monologue/presentation but what you did was unbecoming of the highest officer of the court of the Philippines. You should have also respected that you were in an Impeachment Court, not your turf obviously but still, it was just proper to give them your respect too.
If you ask me, the CJ is in a tight bind here. Enrile asked the Defense team to present him tomorrow for the cross-examination, otherwise all his statements earlier would be stricken off from the ICs records. And that walkout and hypoglycemic episode capped the day. Bakit kaya ang mga nililitis pag na corner na sila, eh lumalabas na maysakit?
If you missed out on this, check this out.
(thank you ANC 24/7 for this picture)
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