BY AMADO P. MACASAET
MALAYA
‘He will be hard put explaining damning documents that he never suspected would be raked up.’
CLOSE to 200 congressmen (188 to be exact) impeached Chief Justice Renato C. Corona.
He is now at the end of the trial. He also appears to be at the end of his wits but puts up a brave face betrayed by the stupid excuse of inability to continue with his “three-hour opening statement” due to hypoglycemia.
In his first appearance at the trial, Mr. Corona agreed to issue a waiver on his dollar accounts on condition that the 188 congressmen who impeached him similarly sign a waiver.
What in heaven’s (or is it hell) name is happening to this man? He is the respondent in the impeachment case but he now accuses his own accusers who are not on trial.
He said that if he does not see the waivers of his 188 accusers he will instruct his defense counsels to rest his case. The impeachment court will promptly pronounce its verdict.
The stupidity of the argument of Mr. Corona is making a direct link between his intention to rest his case and what he thinks is the necessity of requiring his accusers to sign a waiver on their unproven – probably non-existent – dollar deposits.
Beyond saying he has done no wrong but could not prove so by invalidating the value of documents and testimonies against him in a way acceptable to the impeachment court, the Chief Justice appears as guilty as hell.
I have friends who claim that requiring the 188 congressmen to sign waivers is a delaying tactic. I believe otherwise. The trick is so cheap it can only harm him.
None of the 188 lawmakers would sign a waiver. A verdict immediately follows as he had wished his lawyers to happen by resting his case. The Chief Justice is in a hurry to meet his fate. He knows what it is although he says he has no fears. He is consistent in claiming his enemies are crucifying him for his fight to maintain an independent judiciary unashamedly and patently loyal to Gloria Arroyo and never to the Constitution and the laws.
His acceptance of a midnight appointment after Benigno Aquino III was proclaimed winner in the 2010 elections betrays all his claims of judicial independence. He knew his position was indefensible.
What kind of a jurist, a Chief Justice, would drag his accusers into signing a waiver when none of them has ever been involved in the kind of culpable violation and breach of public trust that Mr. Corona now finds himself?
What does this tell of the man? He is shallow of mind, unfit and defenseless against the weight of evidence brought against him before the impeachment court. He could not extricate himself.
So, he blames President Aquino for his betrayal of the Constitution.
Everything has been dragged into the fray. One of the silliest is the claim of hypoglycemia that forced him to leave the court without the permission of the presiding officer.
He was embarrassed when Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile ordered the gates of the Senate closed to prevent him from leaving. His physicians ordered him to stay in the intensive care unit of Medical City for 48 hours until 2 a.m. of Friday, May 25
It would be fatal for him to feign illness in today’s trial.
He will go back to the court to continue with his opening statement or defense but we hazard the guess that he will be hard put explaining damning documents that he never suspected would be raked up.
This betrays his statement that he is a successful lawyer. A successful lawyer is one who can discern between right and wrong. Not one who knows he is wantonly wrong but believes the powers of his office as Chief Justice will right that wrong.
Renato Corona has persistently shown himself as the best proof of “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
If he read Nicholo Machiavelli ‘s The Prince, I would not suspect he understood it. The Chief Justice is Machiavellian in a self-destructive manner.
In a more odious comparison, he behaves like King Canute who ordered that the waves roll back because he thought that as king he was that powerful.
Corona’s mind has been warped by the powers of his office. Or has it always been warped and that is the reason Gloria Arroyo made him a midnight Chief Justice?
And now the clincher: His physicians say he may not be able to testify in today’s hearings because he is physically weak and mentally unstable. Yet Corona seeks acquittal because he did no wrong.
Corona’s body is not sound. Neither is his mind.
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Email: amadomacasaet@yahoo.com
http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/opinion/4813-hypoglycemia-and-cj-corona
But, no matter what, he believes he will be acquitted. Did he use the missing $8-million to buy eight judges? Hope not, we shall see.
Pnoy’s concept of “tuwid na daan” may never become a reality unless the entire country stands behind him with their full support. This impeachment trial is a good test of whether that concept will make or break it. Granted that Corona’s fate is still in the hands of those Senator Judges, the question now is, will they make the right decision even if all presented evidence are proven to be true? Some of these senators are due for re-election next year, should some of them decide to give Corona a pass, will the people use their conscience and common sense in also deciding their fate? I guess we’ll find out soon enough as soon as this BS is over.
You write with a straight and mighty pen again, Jake, as always. Corona, to thinking and patriotic Filipinos everywhere, is dead meat. As you say, he displays a mind unworthy to render judgement in such a lofty position. Even his Atenean classmates are embarassed by such display of pedestrian character. We wonder how those prelates of UST who had erringly honored the scalawag with academic stripes feel now? The whole world watches what the Filipinos will do next in the face of such blatant insults to their patrimony. This Corona fellow is of an odd breed indeed!