A few admitted experiencing some tedium in the first four days of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, mainly because of the lengthy process of marking the prosecution’s evidence and the monotonous testimonies.
“What makes it boring is not the objections by the defense but the marking of evidence,” said Sen. Ralph Recto, one of the 21 senators who showed up at the first week of trial.
Flutter of excitement
During last Wednesday’s hearing, there was a flutter of excitement when Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) was literally pried out of the reluctant hands of Supreme Court Clerk of Court Eriqueta Esguerra-Vidal by an overzealous senator-judge.
The excitement was short-lived, however. What followed was 30 minutes of dead air, as the prosecution and defense proceeded to mark as exhibits the Chief Justice’s SALNs covering the years 2002 to 2010.
Recto and others were vastly relieved when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding officer of the impeachment court, ordered that the marking process be done outside of the courtroom and ahead of the 2 p.m. start of each day’s sessions.
‘That’s how it is’
“That’s how it is in a trial. It can’t be exciting all the time,” said Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, one of the few incumbent senators to have also sat as a judge in deposed President Joseph Estrada’s aborted impeachment trial.
On the fourth day of the trial last Thursday, Sen. Joker Arroyo said he followed Sen. Edgardo Angara to the exit, midway through the testimony of Randy Rutaquio, the registrar of deeds of Taguig City who had been subpoenaed and ordered to bring to the court “true copies” of the titles of the properties allegedly belonging to Corona, his wife and their children.
According to Arroyo, he continued to follow the proceedings from his room, and would be attending the next hearing.
Not as compelling
“Not everyone is watching this trial. It has not drawn the attention of Filipinos that the Erap impeachment drew,” said the senator, who was one of the House prosecutors in the Estrada impeachment trial.
The trial of Estrada, who was tried on charges of corruption, accepting illegal gambling bribes and incompetence, riveted the nation, with Filipinos closely following the proceedings on TV as they would a telenovela.
The trial was aborted in January 2001 when the Senate majority voted to suppress evidence. The vote led to the walkout of the prosecutors and military-backed mass protests on Edsa that forced Estrada 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.
The senators will hear everything as long as they don’t leave the Senate building, Sotto said.
Of the 23 senators, Senators Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who was reportedly suffering from hypertension, and Loren Legarda, who was with an ailing relative abroad, missed the first week of trial.
According to Recto, the excitement can be expected to kick in once the prosecution lawyers start tying up the evidence that have been marked as exhibits for the second impeachment article, which refers to Corona’s alleged failure to disclose his SALNs.
“It will be exciting once the evidence is tied together with the articles and the charges,” he said.
“When direct trial starts, there will be faster proceedings. Let’s relax and enjoy. Democracy is at stake here. Usually, the trial starts slow,” agreed Sotto.
Use Filipino
Catholic bishops said the participating lawyers should not get too caught up in legal jargon and use Filipino once in a while for the sake of the masses who may not be able to keep up with the trial.
“Admittedly, it is difficult to translate legal terms into Filipino but I hope they find a way to explain it well enough for the common people to understand … they can take it down a level for the Filipino masses,” Malolos Bishop Jose Oliveros in an interview in the Church-run Radio Veritas.
“It’s not the technicalities that’s important but the truth in the issue,” Oliveros said.
He said it was important that the public understands the course of the trial so they are able to make the right judgment and decision on the matter.
Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes suggested that television stations could perhaps invite lawyers who can annotate the trial in Filipino.
Praise for Enrile
Basilan Bishop Martin Jumoad and Marbel Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez praised Enrile for his handling of the impeachment trial, which Gutierrez described as “solemn, orderly and well-managed.”
“I hope we will also behave as well, be very patient, prudent and not make any comment that will only worsen what is already a very difficult case,” Gutierrez told Radio Veritas.
“My prayer is that the senator-judges would be objective and fair in the hearing,” said Jumoad. With Jocelyn R. Uy