Skip to main content

Ally Hoop

IF YOU CANNOT prevent the truth from getting out into the open court, move instead to eliminate judges that may likely vote for the truth.

Despite the official rationale that the defense broadcasted in its move to oust Senator Franklin Drinlon as a senator-judge in the CJ Corona Impeachment Trial, it is obvious that the hidden motive is to bring down the percentage of potential votes towards the truth that may be adverse to the interest of their client, Chief Justice Renato Corona. It is a number's game. The required minimum voters to affirm the Article 2, which is 16, will not be met. And their chance increases with one judge out.

The defensive move once again telegraphs their fear to get the truth of the complaint out into the open. If the fear among the defense team advocates exist, then truth may not be on their side. And the Filipino people know exactly what they are up to.

And yet again they have to realize that the rules of judicial court does not apply in the impeachment court. As is already obvious in Day 6 and 7, senator-judges have the right to cross examine witnesses in order to ferret out the truth. Senator Drilon did so alone. The same thing was done by Senator Ralph Recto, which helped clarify the confusion over the Alpha List. And that clarification resulted to the eventual presentation of the Coronal family lists for marking.

Are they thinking then that after Senator Drilon inhibits, they would do the same on Senator Recto? The absurdity of this move, tastes of desperation and the committment to avoid getting the truth out at whatever cost.

There is one thing that the defense team should not underestimate. The senator-judges have their own brilliant minds to depend on in sifting through this tactic. Their responsibility before the Filipino people to uncover the truth behind the allegations under Article 2 weighs more than the manipulative wiles of the defense.

At the end of the day, the senator-judges will be haunted not by the arguments of the defense but by how far they were able to ferret out the truth in this political exercise. And they are answerable to the people on that. The outcome of this impeachment trial will determine how strong the Philippine judiciary become. If Corona is guilty as charged but the the impeachment court failed to bring that out, the people will know when their senators failed in their responsibility of defending one public institution--the Supreme Court and the courts beneath it. The people will know; and they will hold them accountable for that.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

"Elite" Cry-Babies?

I CANNOT IMAGINE how an operative of the Special Counter-Insurgency Operations Unit (SCOU), when caught by insurgents and subjective to the worse torture imaginable, can ever survive with their mental faculties intact. But that's exactly what's going to happen if the recent products of SCOU Training cry foul, or more specifically 'hazing,' when they are subjected to the hard realities of law enforcent that handles counterinsurgency operations. Operatives must be physically hard and mentally sturdy to survive the prospect of getting captured without squelling reserved information to the enemy. I am disappointed to hear that the recent batch of SCOUT trainees considered their physical ordeals during training as 'hazing.' Have they entertained the thought that they were in Camp Ceferino Genovia in Barangay Bahay for an exotic 45-day vacation? If they cannot endure physical pain during training, they must ship out because real life counterinsurgency work ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Separatist Tactic Unraveled

A RECENT INCIDENT in Davao City revealed the sneaky tactic that Muslim separatists use in claiming more and more lands in Mindanao as "their ancestral" land. Vice Mayor Rodrigo Duterte ordered on November 17 members of the Moro National Liberation Front-National Elite Security Unit to vacate areas in Sitio Agdao, Talomo and Mintal, which they claim as a land of their ancestors. True to form they have started harrassing those who are living there in order to have the place for themselves. This was not the first time in Mindanao. (By God, even nations around the world had similar problems with creeping Muslim communities amidst them that can become breeding nests for terrorist operatives.) Provinces like the Zamboangas also noted this kind of creeping dominion; although in certain areas families and relatives of separatists did the subtle presence in certain areas where they later would show no plan to leave. Good that in Davao City they  have a Dutert...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gifts of Discounts

SECTION 13 of the New Code of Philippine Judicial Conduct (27 April 2004) stated: Judges and members of their families shall neither ask for nor receive any gift, bequest, loan, or favor in relation to anything done or to be done or omitted to be done by him or her in connection with the performance of judicial duties. Its annotation explains that: Public officials and employees shall not solicit or accept, directly or indirectly, any gift, gratuity, favor, entertainment, loan or anything of money value from any person in the course of their official duties or in connection with any operation being regulated by, or any transaction which may be affected by the functions of their office." The key phrase here is--"in the course of their official duties." It means that as long as a judge remains a judge of Philippine courts, this Code applies, prohibiting any receipt, directly or indirectly, from any person. The question then is: Is a discount a gift? ...
Post a Comment
Read more