Marikina City Representative Romero Quimbo
The trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona is a defining moment for the 23 senators acting as judges, the prosecution panel said Tuesday.
“Each senator has that one defining moment that propels them to a seat in ‘Olympus,’” Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo, a spokesperson for the House prosecutors, said when interviewed by phone.
The lawmaker was using Mount Olympus, the abode of the gods in Greek mythology, as a metaphor for greatness.
Quimbo pointed out that members of the chamber were a select few, having been elected nationally compared with their counterparts in the House of Representatives.
“I’ve always believed that senators have been historically elected based on how they’ve participated in ‘big issues’ that confront the nation,” Quimbo said.
“Some have likewise been unseated by their failure ‘to take the moment,’” he added.
2013 polls
Quimbo, however, conceded that the impeachment process was still playing out, and thus “it’s still premature to say that this will dictate who gets elected in 2013.”
He was reacting to the warning of Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago that the 2013 senatorial elections would play a big factor in the final verdict to be handed out by the Senate impeachment court on the Corona case.
According to Santiago, Malacañang would be courting the votes of senator-judges during the Lenten break by using logistical and party support come May 2013 as an inducement to convict the Chief Justice.
However, the prosecution spokesperson said he was not saying that those who would convict Corona would be the ones to be deified by the people.
On truth’s side
Neither was he saying that those who would acquit the Chief Justice would lose the vote during their reelection bid, or—like the lesser deities in Greek mythology—ejected from their lofty position of power and influence and hurled into the abyss.
Quimbo said it remained to be seen how public opinion would impact on the next election, and in what way the senators could earn their place in the annals of history regardless of their vote.
“One thing is certain though, I am sure that senators are carefully scrutinizing the different scenarios. While I can never impose any advice on them, it has been shown that history often judges well one who stands on the side of truth,” he said.