Don’t expect riveting trial like Estrada’s—Joker Arroyo

Senator Joker Arroyo

The public may be disappointed if It thinks the coming impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona would be as riveting as that of former President Joseph  Estrada, a senator said Wednesday.

“The trial will not be as hot as Erap’s impeachment trial,” said Senator Joker Arroyo in a phone interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer. (Erap is Estrada’s nickname.)

“Erap’s case was mostly questions of fact while (that of Corona) would involve mostly decisions of the high court where the voting pattern of the Chief Justice is being questioned,” noted the senator, who was one of the lead prosecutors appointed by the House of Representatives in Estrada’s impeachment trial.

In Estrada’s case, Arroyo said, television audiences were intrigued by the prosecution’s parade of witnesses and documentary evidence that indicated the former president’s links to “jueteng”—an illegal numbers game—and the existence of secret bank accounts that may have held the kickbacks he allegedly received from gambling lords.

Television audiences were also glued to their seats as House prosecutors and Estrada’s defense lawyers quarreled over whether the representatives should go to the New Manila district in Quezon City to inspect the so-called Boracay mansion allegedly owned by the ex-president.

“In the case of Erap’s bank accounts and mansions, those involved questions of fact.  But in the Chief Justice’s case, there is very little question of facts in all the eight articles (of impeachment)…There are more (legal) arguments than evidence,” Arroyo said.

He added that in the Corona impeachment trial that will begin on January 16, the senator-judges would “only listen” as prosecutors give evidence.