ANC resumes Chief Justice on Trial

MANILA, Philippines - As the search for truth and justice continues, ANC resumes the country’s most comprehensive live coverage of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s impeachment trial in Chief Justice on Trial: The ANC Coverage starting May 7 at 1 p.m.

ANC’s marathon coverage will be led by Tony Velasquez, Lynda Jumilla, Karen Davila and lawyer Adel Tamano and will be beefed up with relevant analyses and discussions, commentaries and interviews and language interpreters for the Deaf community.

Recognized for its blow-by-blow coverage on the nation’s biggest and most significant news events, ANC has been a byword for newsmakers and prominent personalities in the trial who tune in to the 24-hour news channel’s coverage for discussions, commentaries and interviews.

Tony highlighted the importance of tuning in to the proceedings as a way of upholding good governance and to make the country’s democracy stronger.

“Filipinos must watch the impeachment trial so they can see how the democratic process should be undertaken and because of this, democracy will be strengthened. If people care about the trial, they believe in good governance. And they will also benefit from it,” he said.

Lynda, a political reporter and news anchor, echoed Tony in that the biggest challenge for journalists is absorbing, distilling, explaining to the public what’s going on in the procedure so they see its significance.

“This is not just about officials quarrelling each other to oust another official. Obviously, not everyone is familiar with the processes of legislation and impeachment trial itself, but as journalists, our role is to break it down into words and concepts that are more understandable,” she said.

Karen shared, “Providing analyses and contextualization of what happens is very important because when people understand the functions of our officials and the processes of the law, our standards and expectations as a nation of who serves us become higher.”

The live coverage will also be streamed on abs-cbnNEWS.com for those who would watch it online. ANC’s livestreaming has had 262,194 plays with 2,182 unique users per day as of March. It also delivers up-to-date news on Twitter via @ANCALERTS with 424,856 followers and ANC 24/7 on Facebook, which has amassed 106,474 likes.

Tamano, on the other hand, is a Harvard alumnus and impeachment expert who was also a member of former President Joseph Estrada’s defense counsel during the then leader’s impeachment. The experience, Tamano admitted, gives him an added layer of insight especially when assessing the defense panel’s tactics.

“I’ve been there. I know where they are coming from. I have to take my role as a legal analyst seriously, be prepared to answer constitutional questions, and study parts of the law,” he revealed.