Sen. Angara: Impeachment is medieval, archaic process

MANILA, Philippines—Impeachment is a “medieval” means of ousting a public official, according to Senator Edgardo J. Angara, who on Friday expressed disenchantment with the unfolding trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Angara, one of the quieter members of the Senate impeachment court, made a barbed reference to the political grandstanding on national TV that has characterized the trial, and suggested that the parties involved may be losing public support.

“I wish we had another mode of removing someone like the Chief Justice from office — not by impeachment,” he said in an interview at the University of the Philippines College of Law, where he delivered a talk on the role of the law school in the next 100 years.

“We are losing some of our supporters…. But it’s not so much because of the impeachment, but because of TV [coverage],” he said when asked  what he thought of public perceptions of the impeachment trial.

Without naming names, Angara observed that the live broadcast of the proceedings was seen by some of his colleagues as an opportunity to show off.

“Here you are surrounded by reporters, on microphone, on live TV, so instead of [me explaining] it to you in two words, I explain it to you in 10,” said the mild-mannered Angara, who has maintained a low profile at the four-hearings-a-week trial of Corona.

He agreed that the trial was showing a less than flattering portrait of lawyers and putting on display what he described as the “highly passionate, highly partisan nature” of Philippine politics.

Angara went on to describe impeachment as an antiquated means of removing a public official.

“Impeachment is a medieval tool,” he said. “Many countries – even England, where it originated – have already abandoned impeachment as a means of resolving political conflicts because it is already archaic,” he said.

But he added that there was little anyone could do about it as “it’s the law.”

Since it commenced on January 16, the impeachment trial of Corona has gripped the media’s attention, dominating headlines and public discussion, as the prosecution team composed of members of the House of Representatives started presenting its case before the Senate.

Corona, an appointee of the Arroyo administration, faces the prospect of removal from the high tribunal if convicted of charges of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution,  and graft and corruption.

Angara said the impeachment of Corona was “in a way is a lesson on political science.”

“When there’s a dispute, it’s usually the judiciary that settles and mediates and resolves conflicts in society, whether it’s civil or criminal or mercantile, or what have you. The arbitrator and arbiter and judge is the judiciary,” he said.

“This is a lesson on how political conflicts are resolved under our system,” he said in answer to the Inquirer’s question about what the impeachment trial was teaching the public about the law in general.

Expounding on that point, Angara talked about how other countries use other ways to eliminate unwanted leaders, from coup d’etat to assassination.

“In Mauritius, for instance, it’s resolved by ordinary process. They will file a case against you and you go through the ordinary process of the court,” he said.