Early yesterday morning I received a text message requesting for prayers for Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile who allegedly was being pressured to “change his style” as Presiding Officer of the Impeachment Court.
This sort of “answered” why Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, went to the extent of offering to give up the position of Presiding Officer earlier in the week. I found it strange that JPE went that far considering no one from the Prosecution or the Defense had ever challenged or cast doubts on JPE’s integrity or competency.
What made the whole thing even stranger was the fact that several senators particularly Manny Villar and Allan Peter Cayetano made manifestations of support for JPE. After some inquiries, it seems that it’s a case of “Where there is smoke, there is fire.” Aside from the text message that is spreading, I also came across a post that sort of hinted at some pressure on the matter.
However the impeachment case of Chief Justice Renato Corona goes, I believe that Senator Enrile’s performance as Presiding Officer is the best he has ever been in any thing he has handled or done in life, particularly as a lawyer and as an officer of the Court. Not only has he kept the impeachment court and trial steady and on course, he has also shown his faithfulness to the statutes of Law more than the pressures and allure of politics.
Listening on JPE from time to time, I can honestly and confidently call him as the nation’s Law professor in residence. I would even wager that because of his performance and excellent delivery, chances are there will be more students taking entrance exams for law next year!
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So what exactly is causing some people to feel ill at ease with the way the Impeachment trial has been going?
As a kibitzer, I offer that the problem or tension comes as a result of two fundamentally opposed views beyond Prosecution versus Defense. The fundamental difference is between the Law, which is; so to speak “set in stone” versus Politics, which is an ever-changing view of things subject to intent and interpretation.
What complicates matters is that the Impeachment trial is in its infancy stage as far as Philippine history and jurisprudence is concerned. Whatever procedural problems or issues may be encountered now will only be a solution and reference for future trials. For now, we will have to watch both prosecution and defense pull tooth from each other, while our Senator-Judges walk on thin ice trying to arrive at wise solutions.
Unfortunately for the Prosecution they may have bitten off more than they could chew, or started off on the wrong foot, a misstep that could be fatal as far as their case is concerned.
Having no “textbook” on Impeachments to go by, the Prosecution opted to go with their experience in Congress, where they made up the rules as they went along.
In Congress, the Prosecution ruled and the most that they ever did was to “investigate” but not prosecute. Going by experience, they presented their case very much the same way they presented their proposed legislations and handled their investigations.
Unfortunately, in the setting much like a “Criminal case”, as we have learned from the Senator-Judges, charges or accusations in the form of “articles of impeachment are specific and even evidence should not only be presented but presented as specific evidence for a specific charge.
This leaves the Prosecution from Congress with only two choices: work with what they have, imperfect and fatal as they are and hope for the best, or withdraw and try for a second and more perfect impeachment.
Judging from how things have gone at the Senate, even the first option looks bleak for the Prosecution. Aside from being massacred on their poor preparation, technical oversights are now popping up.
The best one so far came from Senator Chiz Escudero in the form of a “technical question”. At what point is the Chief Justice’s wealth under trial? From the time he became Chief Justice since he is being impeached for acts committed as Chief Justice or before?
In legal terms that one question redefines the prosecution’s case.
As I asked the views of more learned men, a fellow but senior columnist shared that “as far as objectives go, the objective has been achieved”. His view was that at the very beginning the intention was to send the Supreme Court a clear message that all Justices of the Supreme Court are accountable. As far as the Chief Justice is concerned, the columnist felt that Corona was beyond repair and severely damaged by the process even if the prosecution fails to impeach him.
Without a doubt, the impeachment trial has achieved both. But can we settle with a draw or a stalemate? I doubt if the people in Malacañang will settle for a draw even if they got all the “pogi” points. Unfortunately a “mistrial” does not seem to be in the non-existent book on impeachments.
So either P-Noy wins or Corona walks. But if Corona walks, I will make a 100 to 1 bet that Senator Juan Ponce Enrile will be made the sacrificial lamb to appease the landlords of Malacañang. When that happens, P-Noy gets 3 out of 4. He has the Executive, the Senate and the House of Representatives in his mighty hand.
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