Senator-judges in robes to take their oath Wednesday

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said in an ambush interview Tuesday that Corona’s impeachment trial would likely begin in February because the impeachment court could only send him the formal summons when sessions resume on January 16. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The Senate will convene itself as an impeachment court and its members, wearing robes custom-made for the purpose, will take their oath as senator-judges when the session is adjourned Wednesday afternoon.

Lawyer Valentina Cruz, the newly designated spokesperson of the impeachment court, said this was agreed upon by the senators in a caucus late Tuesday.

She said that after the oath-taking, Chief Justice Renato Corona would be summoned and directed to reply to the articles of impeachment submitted by the House of Representatives.

The chairman of the House committee on justice, Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., accompanied by Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali, went to the office of Senate Secretary Emma Lirio Reyes Tuesday morning to  transmit 31 copies of the articles of impeachment backed by 188 members of the House.

Corona will be given “10 calendar days” to respond to the charges, after which the impeachment prosecutors will be given five days to answer, Cruz said in a hastily called press conference.

When Congress resumes session on Jan. 16, the Senate will begin impeachment proceedings at 2 p.m. But this does not mean it will immediately start the trial, Cruz said, adding that the House contingent would present 11 of its members who had been chosen to prosecute Corona.

The House has named nine of the 11-member prosecuting team. They are Tupas, Umali, Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada III, Ilocos Norte Representative Rodolfo Fariñas, Isabela Representative Giorgidi Aggabao, Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo, Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga, Akbayan Representative Kaka Bag-ao, and Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares.

Cavite Representative Joseph E.A. Abaya, Northern Samar Representative Raul Daza and Cibac Representative Sherwin Tugna are being considered for the last two slots as prosecutors and for the post of team manager.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the senator-judges would hear all eight articles of impeachment first before issuing their verdict on each one.

“We decided to hear all charges first, and then determine whether Corona is guilty. If we hear each article and then pass judgment, it would be like the prosecutors shopping for the strongest case. We thought this would not be workable,” Sotto said.

Up to senators

“We will only set the reception of prosecutors on Januray 16,” Cruz said. “The actual start of the impeachment trial will depend on the senators … It also depends on whether the prosecutors will be ready. We will only wait for them to decide when they are ready.”

Cruz also said senators had agreed to hold impeachment hearings at 2 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays starting on January 16. Fridays will be reserved for the receipt of motions to be filed by the prosecution or the defense.

Legislative sessions will be held on Mondays and Tuesdays starting at 10 a.m. Wednesday mornings will still be reserved for sessions of the Commission on Appointments.

Senators assigned Cruz to speak on their behalf on the impeachment issue because they are to sit as judges during the trial.

Cruz said the senators had agreed to adopt the rules and procedures that were to have been observed in the aborted impeachment trial of then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, who chose to quit in April rather than stand trial.

Before Tuesday’s caucus, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said in an ambush interview that Corona’s impeachment trial would likely begin in February because the impeachment court could only send him the formal summons when sessions resume on January 16.

Enrile warned that the Senate, once convened into an impeachment court, “will not allow dilatory tactics” from either the prosecution or the defense once the trial was underway.

Resignation expected

But despite his brave front, Corona will probably yield to President Benigno Aquino III and his allies’ demand that he step down, if only to save himself from the “embarrassment” of an impeachment trial, according to Senator Sergio Osmeña III.

Should Corona decide to fight on, Osmeña said, he doubted that the House prosecutors would be able to muster enough votes in the Senate to remove the Chief Justice from office.

“I expect Chief Justice Corona will resign to save himself from so much embarrassment,” said Osmeña, a supporter of Mr. Aquino. “I can bet on it.”

Osmeña downplayed the idea that political affiliation would decide the outcome of the impeachment trial at the 24-member Senate. He noted that there were only four senators belonging to Mr. Aquino’s Liberal Party, with six more identified as “anti-Noynoy.”

“Nobody will be able to get the [required] two-thirds vote,” he said.

Showing unusual candor given his colleagues’ care not to issue statements that might be construed as biased for or against Corona, Osmeña threw his support behind the Aquino administration’s “overall goal to throw out crooks and corrupt people in government.”

“[Former President] Gloria Arroyo really abused her power,” he said. “So, to cover up for all of her corruption, she set up a lot of land mines. She put Merceditas Gutierrez in the Office of the Ombudsman, and Renato Corona and some funny guys in the Supreme Court. All of them.”

He added: “Sometimes, in order to get rid of the cancer, you have to get bone surgery. And this is the type of surgery that I hope would not happen too often … Maybe once every generation, it might be necessary.”

No-win situation

Osmeña said Corona, who was the chief of staff of then Vice President Arroyo and her so-called “midnight appointee” as Chief Justice, was in a no-win situation.

The senator pointed out that an impeachment trial was a political exercise not necessarily involving the determination of guilt, as in a court trial.

“Even if he wins with the other side not getting a two-thirds [vote], he is damaged. How can he continue to serve as Chief Justice?” the senator said.

Osmeña said he was expecting the Corona trial to evolve into a “telenovela,” not unlike what happened during the impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada in 2000.

“The people will be watching. It will turn into a telenovela once again … Perhaps, after four or five meetings, you guys would have already made up your minds that [Corona] is guilty and he should be kicked out. So, it’s not really a very fair way,” he said.

“I expect the Chief Justice would probably find himself an excuse and resign, rather than go through the rigors, embarrassment and pain of a public trial,” he added.

Given its political nature, an impeachment trial will provide an avenue for Corona’s enemies to throw at him accusations not necessarily backed by evidence, the senator said.

“You cannot win if it’s a political trial. All the stink will come out. Whether true or not, a girl can come forward and say ‘you raped me,’” Osmeña said.

“We’re politicians. You know how abusive we Filipino senators can be. We can say anything and everything, and we have immunity. Most of us try to guard our comments and be a little careful and discriminate, but we can say anything during the trial and it would make the Filipino people believe that what we’re saying is true when it might not actually be true, it might have no basis in law. So, that is the danger when you enter into a political trial like this,” he said.

Osmeña also said the Supreme Court would most likely fight back. But he said the President was in a good position because of the support of “the overwhelming majority of congressmen.”

Consultants

Also on Tuesday, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago expressed concern that the lack of legal background of many of her colleagues could affect their judgment during Corona’s trial.

“Since not all senators are lawyers, or if they studied law but never practiced in a trial court, they might depend too heavily on their consultants, and in effect it might be the consultants who are casting the vote during the final decision,” said Santiago, a former Quezon City Regional Trial Court judge.

But Osmeña pointed out that US courts used jury members who did not necessarily have legal backgrounds: “The consultants guide us, but remember, jurors in the US are not lawyers either.”

Santiago, however, was confident that the senators would no longer need extensive briefings on impeachment proceedings considering their preparations for Gutierrez’s impeachment trial.

“The only important question now is the level of proof or standard of evidence required to convict [Corona],” she said.

Elsewhere, political analyst Ramon Casiple said he believed that Corona’s “widely known attachment” to Arroyo would work against him.

“He is an incidental casualty in the anticorruption campaign of the Aquino government. The struggle to impeach Corona [and possibly other pro-Arroyo justices] is only a facet of the bigger battle to right the wrongs of the recent past and strengthen governance and, ultimately, the fragile Philippine democracy,” said Casiple, the executive director of the Quezon City-based Institute for Political and Economic Reform. With reports from Christian V. Esguerra, Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. and Jerome Aning