EDITORIAL - More than a costume change

Today senators will don black gowns with their chamber’s logo and take their oaths as judges in an unprecedented trial. President Estrada stands accused of several offenses that could lead to his conviction and ouster less than three years into his term. His fate is in the hands of 22 senators, who will take on the role of judges in a trial that will be presided by Chief Justice Hilario Davide.

The new role requires more than a costume change. As many quarters have pointed out, the Senate itself is on trial here. Anti-Estrada groups worry that the case will be settled through multimillion-peso gifts or balato to those who vote a certain way. Merely abstaining from the vote will add to the chances of the President’s exoneration. For all the noise about letting the truth be known, this trial boils down to numbers. Can the prosecution muster the two-thirds vote required to convict? All that’s needed to convict is preponderance of evidence. Will senators ignore the evidence?

Senators are urging each other to shut up about the case once they don their black gowns – a good suggestion, given the tension generated by this controversy. Since the jueteng scandal erupted last month, the public more or less knows who among the senators are for or against the President in this case. Some senators have joined calls for his resignation while others have defended him; two are direct recipients of gambling balato from the President and his accuser, Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson. A handful of senators could go either way – they say they want to take a closer look at the evidence before passing judgment.

This trial is meant to ferret out the truth based on evidence, and when the truth is known, to determine whether the President is fit to continue leading the country until 2004. The 22 senators must make not only a legal but a moral judgment. This trial must be conducted with such impartiality and credibility that when judgment is rendered, it won’t spawn a more po-werful typhoon that will devastate the nation.