Corona trial not half as interesting as Estrada’s

MANILA, Philippines—Be forewarned: The Corona impeachment trial may not be as riveting as Joseph Estrada’s.

Some senators have admitted experiencing some ho-hum moments in the first four days of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, no thanks to the lengthy marking of evidence by the prosecution and Senate clerks and boring testimonies.

“What makes it boring is not the objections by the defense but the marking of evidence,” Senator Ralph Recto, one of the 21 senators who showed up at the first week of trial, said in an interview, agreeing with the order to mark the evidence outside of the courtroom.

After hours of wrangling on the third day of trial last Wednesday, Supreme Court Clerk of Court Eriqueta Esguerra-Vidal piqued everyone’s interest when she grudgingly admitted that she brought with her copies of Corona’s statements of assets, liabilities and networth (SALN).

The excitement, however, was short-lived. What followed later was 30 minutes of dullness, as both the prosecution and defense marked the Chief Justice’s SALNs covering the years from 2002 to 2010 as exhibits.

After noticing that the proceedings were bogged down by the tedious marking of documents, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile ordered the prosecution to mark its evidence outside the session hall, and ahead of the 2 p.m. hearings.

“That’s how it is in a trial. It can’t be exciting all the time,” Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, who also sat as a judge in then President Joseph “Erap” Estrada’s impeachment trial from late 2000 to early 2001, said in a telephone interview.

On the fourth day of trial last Thursday, Senator Joker Arroyo said he followed Senator Edgardo Angara to the exit, midway through the testimony of Taguig City registrar of deeds Randy Rutaquio, who submitted true copies of the condominium certificate of title under the name of Corona, his wife and their children.

Arroyo, however, said he followed the proceedings on television in his own office, and said he would attend the next hearing.

The senator, who acted as a prosecutor in the impeachment trial of Estrada, made this observation:  “Not everyone is watching this trial. It has not drawn the attention of Filipinos that the Erap impeachment drew.’’

The trial of Estrada, who was tried on charges of corruption, inefficiency and incompetence, riveted the nation with Filipinos closely following the proceedings on TV as they would a telenovela series until it was aborted in January 2001 over a Senate vote to suppress an evidence. The testimony then involved accounts of transfers of money in the millions of pesos in bagfuls representing payoffs from gambling lords,  lavish mansions of mistresses, and bank accounts hidden in aliases.

The vote by the senators not to open a sealed envelope and admit its contents as evidence led to a walkout by the prosecutors. This triggered a mass uprising and the announcement by the military leadership of the withdrawal of its support for Estrada, who was then forced to step down.

While the senators may not be in their seats at any time during the trial, it doesn’t mean they’re not keeping tabs on the proceedings, Sotto said.

“When the senators go out to the lounge at the back of the court, we don’t miss a word of what’s going on because there are TV monitors there. Even when we go to the toilet, we hear what’s happening,” he said by phone. “They’ll hear everything as long as they don’t leave the Senate building.”

Of the 23 senators, Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who was reportedly suffering from hypertension, and Loren Legarda, who was attending to an ailing relative abroad, missed the first week of trial.

Recto expects excitement in the trial to kick in once the prosecution lawyers start tying up the evidence so far marked with Article II, which refers to Corona’s failure to disclose his SALNs.

“It will be exciting once the evidence is tied together with the articles and the charges,’’ he said.

Sotto agreed:  “When direct trial starts, there will be faster proceedings. Let’s relax and enjoy. Democracy is at stake here. Usually, the trial starts slow.”