Jessica’s bright tomorrow

Filipinos all over the world were disappointed with the result of the American Idol contest when Filipino-Mexican finalist Jessica Sanchez wasn’t declared the ultimate winner. Many thought she was  once again a victim of racism because she doesn’  look American. It would be a great insult to America if a Filipino became the champion of the show.

Audience votes in American Idol  eliminated one of its best performers and a juror favorite Joshua Ledet. Was it because  he was black and gay?

Jessica was outvoted by white Georgia guitar-player  Philip Phillips who I believe preformed better than Jessica on finals night. But Jessica’s duet  with Jennifer Holiday brought the house down and was the best performance of the night.

I think Jessica is already considered a successful singer after the contest and the future has a lot  in store for her.

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The talk of the town  Chief Justice Renato C. Corona’s walkout where he showed his disrespect to the Senate impeachment court by leaving the hall after  his three-hour opening statement without permission from the judges.

Corona’s lawyers explained that their client, a diabetic,  left the trial because he suffered hypoglycemia  and skipped lunch that day.  But the Senate sergeant-at-arms later revealed that  he caught up with Corona and his wife  who were ready to enter the elevator that would have led them to the parking area where the convoy of the Chief Justice was waiting.

I am also a diabetic and have experienced hypoglycemic attacks. If the Chief Justice had an attack at that time he would have just slumped in his chair. He could not have stood up and shaken  the hands of people in the gallery.

Clearly Corona just wanted to use the impeachment trial as a venue to bring his case to the people and did not expect to be cross examined. What he did was very disrespectful to the legislative department, a co-equal branch  of government.

Lucky for the Chief Justice, the Senate has a veteran head who was  lenient to him.  Funny that Corona has kept  attacking the President of the Philippines for impeaching him.

He says that destroys the independence of the judiciary, but his action in walking out of the trial concretely showed his own disrespect of the Senate and the senator-judges.

I am happy that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile asserted the authority of the Senate and required Corona to appear in the trial last Friday.

The Chief Justice then issued a waiver on the secrecy of his bank accounts – this time without any condition – but this was not given much attention by the Senate because it was e moot and academic after Corona admitted that he has four dollar accounts which total  about $2.4 million and about P80 million in his peso accounts which are not reflected in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

The defense and prosecution no longer examined the Chief Justice. The prosecution said his opening statement  was irrelevant to their cause and secondly his admission that he has  dollar accounts and a peso account that was not reflected in his SALN appeared enough to convict him under Article 2 of the impeachment complaint.

I think at this time the senator-judges have already made a decision about  Chief Justice after the walkout, which is why few asked him clarifcatory questions.

Now there’s talk of  a mistrial possibly being declared.  That prompted Sen. Kiko Pangilinan to ask the defense if they are still pursuing it. The defense panel just referred to their earlier request for a restraining order on the impeachment that it is still pending in the Supreme Court.

I don’t know if it is still tenable because the Chief Justice submitted himself to the jurisdiction of the impeachment court when he appeared and answered questions from the senator-judges. But it’s  good to hear the final word of the Supreme Court on this matter.