Senator Joker Arroyo
MANILA, Philippines – Senator Joker Arroyo believes that in just one month, the Senate impeachment court can decide on Chief Justice Renato Corona’s guilt or innocence.
“Chief Justice Corona has filed his answer to the House’s Articles of Impeachment. With that, the issues are joined as it is called in procedural law, meaning each party’s position has been defined and the issues controverted,” Arroyo said in a statement on Tuesday.
“With that, the Senate should be able to make a ruling, whether it is conviction or acquittal, and finish the trial in one month,” he said.
The senator cited as example the celebrated impeachment trial of former US President Bill Clinton which lasted for 33 days only.
In the case of Corona, Arroyo said , the same speed could be done since the eight charges contained in the complaint were “not complicated at all.”
“Unless the parties meander into extraneous matters and grandstand and the Senate tolerates it, the trial should be straightforward and brief,” he said.
The charges, he said , were anchored on public documents namely, various decisions of the Supreme Court, which are officially published in the Supreme Court Reports Annotated (SCRA); the proceedings of the Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), which are public records; two Temporary Restraining Orders (TRO) entered by the High Court, which are likewise judicial records.
The Statements of Assets and Liabilities (SAL), the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF), and Special Allowance for the Judiciary (SAJ) raised in the complaint, the senator said, are also in the possession of the appropriate judicial agencies.
“The authenticity of the text of the Supreme Court decisions and rulings cannot be contested, although the prosecutors and the defense may argue over its implications,” said Arroyo.
The senator also noted that the allegations in the complaint revolved mainly around questions of law and hardly over facts. Questions of law, he said, would be resolved on the basis of the legal arguments of each side while questions of fact are resolved through evidence, testimonial or documentary.