On trial

At the time this piece is being written, Congress had yet to confirm reports that it would file an impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Renato Corona just a full week after President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III launched a tirade against him and the Supreme Court for their alleged favorable decisions to former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

But Corona wasn’t slow on the ball. He issued his own response to the President’s attack, saying that he won’t allow the High Court’s enemies to oust him and destabilize the judiciary.

“Let no one mistake my silence for weakness. We shall not meekly walk away… I have been quietly preparing and will be ready to take more determined steps in the coming days,” the Chief Justice intoned to Supreme Court employees and justices yesterday.

If things come to pass, Corona will be the third official to be impeached by Congress after then president Joseph Estrada and former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.

While Estrada had been ousted in a second People Power Revolution and Gutierrez chose to resign rather than face the music, Corona’s statement indicates that he will dig in rather than roll over and resign.

Aquino supporters and adherents will say it’s about time, while sympathizers will note that the impeachment will only destabilize the Supreme Court and the judiciary as a whole.

Based on an early review of the impeachment complaint, the legislators were careful in their wording by directing the charges against Corona rather than the whole institution, thus skipping accusations that the Aquino administration is bullying or emasculating the judiciary into bending to their will.

But regardless of how both sides of the political fence view it, one cannot disregard the weighty implications an impeachment trial on Corona will bring. It will deeply polarize an already divided nation.

And all of this trouble is caused by that “little girl” whose adherents claim is targeted for assassination by shadowy groups. It will be interesting to see if any Cebuano lawmaker voted to impeach Corona, since most of them have their loyalties to “Ma’am” intact despite (especially after?) her arrest and detention.

A chief concern will be whether to broadcast the impeachment trial live just like Estrada’s aborted proceedings, a condition the High Court will likely object to. And the articles cited in the impeachment complaint should be supported by solid evidence rather than motherhood statements and unsubstantiated claims.

“Let justice be done though the heavens fall,” went a familiar theme in the ancient Roman Senate. We could only hope that this would come to pass in relation to the Corona impeachment case though without the heavens falling part. The country doesn’t need another political upheaval at this point in time.