Corona’s stand

One cannot  emphasize enough  today’s scheduled appearance of Chief Justice Renato Corona—barring any last minute change of heart or announcement—in his own impeachment hearing in the Senate.

Never before  in the country’s  political history has a  chief of state, let alone the country’s chief magistrate, been  required to stand trial for alleged crimes against the country.

All the  testimonies, lengthy cross examinations on numbers and bank accounts that resort to technical  jargon and legalese and threaten to drag down public interest in the case against Corona, may  vanish or recede in the background the minute the Chief Justice takes the witness stand to defend himself.

Lest we be overwhelmed by the political significance of it all ,however, we should be reminded anew why he’s  being tried in the first place.  That is betrayal of public trust, specifically on corruption cases concerning his benefactor, former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The prosecution has, rightly or wrongly, chosen not to tackle all the charges leveled against Corona not only to avoid dragging the country further  into  lengthy and fatigue-inducing trial proceedings but also to focus their energies on complaints they feel would stand the best chance of getting a conviction.

Along the way, much attention has focused on Corona’s mind-boggling wealth which ranges  from peso to dollar deposits to his family’s alleged machinations in taking over a company.

These bank accounts and tales of influence-peddling and receiving of favors all paint a picture of a  man who had risen  through the ranks through connections to the former administration and continues to be at their disposal now that a new one is cracking down on their alleged abuses.

That may well be the heart of the whole impeachment case against Corona.

He may or may not be the owner of all those bank accounts and he is expected to go all out and disprove those allegations. There’s even talk that he and his legal team will push for a mistrial which they already tried to do early this year.

The burden falls on the prosecution, not on Corona, to prove that he betrayed public trust through his acts of  continuing protection of the former president against legal prosecution and how he has benefited from that anomalous arrangement.

But make no mistake, Corona is not only making his own case before the Senate.

He is  defending himself before the bar of public opinion, who we trust will not be swayed by whatever legal maneuverings are employed to distort the truth.