Clearly, the prosecution in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona is all bark and no bite.
The prosecutor-congressmen gave the public the impression before the trial they would make mincemeat of Corona in the Senate court.
On the first and second day of the impeachment trial, the prosecution instead became mincemeat as defense lawyers chopped all their arguments to pieces.
President Noy, who initiated the filing of the impeachment against the Chief Justice, was probably squirming in his seat and scratching his head in Malacañang while watching the proceedings on TV.
He was probably thinking, “Kabobobo naman nitong mga kaalyado ko (My allies are so dumb)!”
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Even the vaunted Mario Bautista, the lead private prosecutor, made himself a laughingstock among his peers watching from the sidelines.
“Mon, if this Atty. Bautista is your lawyer in a criminal case, ’di pa tapos ang hearing (the hearing is not yet over), nakulong ka na (you’re already convicted), said a veteran trial lawyer, who didn’t want to be identified.
Said Nelson Borja, a former policeman and now a litigation lawyer: “In my 33 years as a trial lawyer, this is the first time I witnessed a private prosecutor come to court unprepared. Clearly, he didn’t talk with his witness before the trial.”
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Here’s my observation as a layman watching the proceedings on TV on the first and second day.
I would compare the verbal tussle between the prosecution and defense at the impeachment trial as a fight between a four-foot amateur midget and a six-foot-tall prizefighter.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, acting as referee, keeps scolding the midget for hitting “below the belt” because he can’t reach his opponent’s body—much more his face—for a knockout.
Clearly, a no contest.
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The impeachment trial has become a venue where Enrile’s star shines more brightly than ever.
I congratulated his son, Cagayan Rep. Juan “Jack” Ponce Enrile, on the Senate President’s superb handling of the impeachment trial.
Jack’s reply: “He’s at his best with the law, Mon.”
And to think that Enrile was not even a bar topnotcher!
His father, an abogado de campanilla, was so disheartened that Enrile did not make it to the “top 10,” that he sent him to Harvard to specialize in law.