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Tag: Corona impeachment

Should we let it be?

Published by Ellen on January 10, 2012


The author in Cagayan
By Joel Butuyan
Roque & Butuyan Law Offices

I finally had time to sit down and write the percolating thoughts in my mind as I read and watch the impeachment drama. This debate has brought our nation at a crossroads. Which of the two roads should our nation take? The road to impeachment or the road where every person you meet is karaoke-singing the song “Let It Be.” The decision and direction our nation takes hold huge potentials in transforming our society for better or for worse.

Some of our fellow Justices in the 90 million-member Sovereign Court of Public Opinion raise the alarm that the impeachment of the Chief Justice will destroy the essence of the Supreme Court as the sole institution that can decide constitutional issues. This is pointed out because the impeachment complaint accuses the Chief Justice of liability on constitutional issues that were decided by the Supreme Court as a collegial body.

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Bottomline for Trillanes in Corona impeachment

Published by Ellen on January 8, 2012

Bottomline is national interest
Expect Senator Antonio F. Trillanes IV to call a spade a spade.

In his speech at a forum held at the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance, Diliman last week, Trillanes said, “… the over-arching policy issue in this whole impeachment episode is, whether the conviction or acquittal of Chief Justice Renato Corona would be good for our country.”

Unlike other senators who give hypocritical statements that they will decide solely on evidence presented, Trillanes said, “ My verdict should not be based solely on evidence as it (the impeachment trial)now becomes a matter of public policy.”

But it doesn’t mean, he said, that he will ignore the evidence that will be presented by the prosecution.

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Remove that crown of thorns

Published by Ellen on January 6, 2012

Rocamora
By Joel Rocamora
Secretary, National Anti-Poverty Commission

The language of the Corona impeachment is, of necessity, legal. The senators who sit in judgment will do their best to couch their opinions in legalese. Media commentators will try to catch up. But everyone knows that, in the end, it’s all about power and politics.

Law and the judicial system just happen to be the battlefield in this instance. The Corona impeachment is the single most important exercise of presidential power by President Aquino in the year and a half he has spent in office thus far.

The Corona impeachment is about Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA). But only in that GMA has been the symbolic lynchpin of opposition to the reforms that the Aquino administration is currently undertaking. The trigger for impeachment was the Corona Supreme Court’s attempt to facilitate GMA’s escape from the clutches of the law. While there is still another case in the Supreme Court which could be used to spring GMA from prison, more likely she will remain there for some time. The battlefield has now shifted to Corona.

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Anything but the evidence

Published by Ellen on January 5, 2012

Getting ready. Photo by Jonas Sulit of Malaya
I think President Aquino will have the numbers to convict Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona regardless of whether the prosecution will be able to support the charges they enumerated in the impeachment complaint.

In a TV interview, Sen. Francis Escudero said it is the presentation of witnesses and evidence, not public opinion, which should decide the outcome of the impeachment trial of Corona.

Even Sen. Francis Pangilinan, who had earlier asked Corona to inhibit on cases involving Gloria Arroyo, also said that the quality evidence will be the determining factor in his decision.

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