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Opinion

It's a damn if you do or don't for CJ Corona

SHOOTING STRAIGHT - Bobit S. Avila -

Today is the big day… when the Filipino people will finally see the light at the end of this long and arduous Senate Impeachment trial brought forth no less by President Benigno “P-Noy” Aquino III, where he literally used all the powers of the Presidency… including his political and financial power to convince or should I say… coerce his political party mates in the Liberal Party (LP) to do a world record impeachment complaint in Congress where 188 eager and willing political puppets that still call themselves House Representatives signed this in less than an hour with nary a debate.

News about Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona’s ill-gotten wealth was strewn into a more than willing national media, painting a bleak and dark picture for CJ Corona as “Guilty even without proof.” Count them 45 mysterious properties reported by the Land Registration Authority (LRA) and because of that, the Prosecutors slapped him with eight counts in their Articles of Impeachment. CJ Corona was toasted even before they could send him to the toaster!

Then in the last couple of months, a sudden twist came when the Prosecutors themselves dug their own burial ground presenting spurious documents coming from mysterious short ladies or damning evidence stuck on someone’s gate in what I would call a comedy of errors. To douse the firestorm that no less than P-Noy ignited with his scathing speech at the Justice Summit at the Manila Hotel on Dec. 5, 2011 with CJ Corona in attendance, the feisty Prosecutors suddenly reduced the number of Articles from eight to three and CJ Corona’s properties from 45 to only five. This in my book was a huge turning point for the defense.

Suddenly, the overconfident sycophants from Malacañang Palace are talking in lower voices, even thinking about another Senate Impeachment for CJ Corona. While all this was happening, the Supreme Court came up with that final and executory decision to give the Hacienda Luisita to the farmers, a decision that ended with these poor farmers naming CJ Corona as the “Champion of Land Reform.” Suddenly, the mass of farmers all over the country found CJ Corona as a person they could trust and depend on.

Hence, in desperation, the Malacañang propaganda machinery went on full speed about CJ Corona’s alleged $10 million in bank deposits, even using all the instrumentalities of the government, which supposedly should not (but from the way things have turned out, they owe their fealty to P-Noy and will do his biding) be in the control of the Executive as they are Constitutional bodies, like the Commission on Audit (CoA) and the Office of the Ombudsman to question the Chief Justice and even testified in the Senate Impeachment court with evidence that later could never be authenticated by the very people that gave them these damning documents.

That was last week’s comedy of comedies when that fool, Harvey Keh who trumpeted CJ Corona’s bank statements to the press and gave it to Senate Pres. Juan Ponce Enrile, admitted before the Senate Impeachment court that he could not authenticate the evidence that he presented to the Ombudsman and to the Senate Court.

So we are literally at the end of the line in this highly-frustrating made for TV reality show. At this point, we will eagerly wait and pray that CJ Corona would do what he has always said before… tell that whole truth to the people. However, let me say it there that even if CJ Corona tells that truth… it will not solve his problem. I must caution our readers that there are many in the Aquino regime who already made up their minds long before any evidence against CJ Corona was presented that he is guilty because these people be lieved in their own yarn about his 45 properties and his bank accounts. To them… CJ Corona’s truth will only embolden them to find other excuses not to believe anything he says.

Therefore, in testifying before the Senate Impeachment Court, CJ Corona is doomed to that old phrase, “Damn if you do… damn if you don’t.” If there is a bigger question to ask… it should be asked of P-Noy, whether he would accept CJ Corona’s truth or not? At this point, I cannot and will not predict what the President would do, but whatever he does will certainly have serious consequences in this country.

So the ball is now left in the court of our Senator-Judges. If they convict CJ Corona even if he presents evidence refuting all that the prosecution slapped against him, then they are doing so in the name of political exigency. But they risk getting the ire of the Filipino people, many of whom already believe that they have been “bribed” by the Aquino regime. If they acquit CJ Corona and President Aquino rejects their decision, then this country could suffer another EDSA type of a revolt that no one wants anymore. So let us pray to God that our Senator-Judges would make a non-political decision.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected] or [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.

H

AQUINO

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT

CHAMPION OF LAND REFORM

CORONA

HELLIP

P-NOY

SENATE IMPEACHMENT

SUPREME COURT

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