Isn't P-Noy's attacks on CJ Corona sub judice?

Compared to other columnists, I really do not spend my time watching the live feed of the Senate Impeachment trial, simply because whether we like it or not, life has to go on and we have lots of work and better things to do. Above all, if all Filipinos will do nothing but watch the proceedings in the Senate, then the Philippine economy will slide further down into ruin.

Right now the prices of basic goods have risen once more… fuel prices have gone up twice in two weeks and the prices of bread increased this week and no one in the P-Noy regime seems to care in fixing these problems that are important to ordinary Filipinos. Malacañang seems too focused on removing Chief Justice Renato Corona… even to the point of having the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) investigate him for revenue violations.

If you ask me, this is the height of vindictiveness and perhaps President Aquino should be advised that Filipinos always have a soft heart for the underdog. Ask yourself why that Navy Lt. Antonio Trillanes was voted to the Senate? That’s because many people felt that he had become an underdog. This is why former Sen. Francisco “Kit” Tatad said a few days ago on TV that the tide of this impeachment exercise has now shifted to CJ Corona’s favor. This hate campaign vs CJ Corona should stop. 

Last Thursday I had some free time before another important meeting and I was able to watch the Senate impeachment around 4 p.m. It was then that PSBank Katipunan manager Annabelle Tiongson revealed in open court that on Jan. 31, a person whom she later revealed as Rep. Jorge Banal, a member of the Prosecution secretariat and Liberal Party approached her and showed her a photocopy of a document asking if they were authentic. Tiongson did not answer him for fear of breaking the Bank secrecy law.

This caused Senator/Judge Loren Legarda to ask whether this document held by Rep. Banal was the same document they had on Feb. 2 that Rep. Rey Umali insisted was given to him by a “short lady”. This mysterious lady has yet to be revealed, despite the revelation by no less than Senate Presiding Judge Juan Ponce Enrile that the close-circuit television (CCTV) in the Senate revealed no such short lady. Meanwhile the radio pundits in Cebu are having a field day finding this issue so ridiculous they now say it must have been a “white lady”. Of course it could have been all lies!

Meanwhile we saw Rep. Banal on TV admitting that he approached Tiongson and saying that the documents he showed the bank manager were left in his gate by someone he doesn’t know. What’s this… another mysterious person? Another short lady perhaps, or is it what it is… another lie?

Meanwhile the decision in this impeachment trial hangs on whether the bank document allegedly by CJ Corona is a fake or not. If it is proven to be authentic, then PSBank manager Annabelle Tiongson will be in hot water and could be criminally liable or worse, it could lead to a possible bank run… after all no depositor would want to put money in a bank that they cannot trust. Hopefully this issue will be resolved soon. Lest you have already forgotten the legal dictum, “He who comes to court must come with clean hands.” This means, he should present damaging evidence, not fakes!

Incidentally, earlier Thursday, P-Noy spoke at the La Consolacion College and once again attacked CJ Corona and exhorted the students to support his cause in having the Chief Justice impeached, even using a PowerPoint presentation displaying the disparities between CJCorona’s bank records against his SALN. What I would like to ask is, why is he doing this while the Senate Impeachment trial is still on-going? Can’t the President wait until a decision by the Senate impeachment court is reached?

Again the President tried to sell that old line, asking the students as if he was addressing CJ Corona directly in Tagalog “If you have nothing to hide and have done nothing wrong why then do you not open your bank accounts, which are already overdue?” How many times must we tell the President to “back off” from this highly faulty line of thinking, it will boomerang on him because he too has kept many things away from us, “his Boss”, like the issue of his Porsche sports car.

I reckon that P-Noy is getting impatient with the Senate impeachment and is now directly addressing the students to take his side. This is another proof that the tide of the people’s sentiments have shifted to CJ Corona’s favor, that’s why P-Noy is hell-bent on destroying his reputation directly to the people? Come now isn’t what the President doing a clear case of sub judice? Hey, I thought no one was above the law in this country?

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Here’s an announcement from the AIM Alumni Association: join the AIM’s 44th foundation year and grand alumni homecoming on Friday, Feb. 24, 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. at the NBC Tent, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig. The theme for this year’s event is, “Ready, AIM Fire!” I hope you can join.

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For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through http://www.philstar.com