Is impeachment court dispensing justice? - ROSES AND THORNS by Alejandro R. Roces

Justice is the ultimate virtue because it encompasses all virtues. Classically, justice is portrayed as a blindfolded person holding a scale in one hand, a sword in the other. He is blindfolded because he is supposed to decide cases strictly on their merits and not on whether the parties involved are rich and powerful or poor and underprivileged. The scale represents that the evidence will be weighed according to law. The sword is to indicate that it has the power to enforce its decision.

Today, the attention of the whole nation is focussed on the impeachment trial. It is is no exaggeration to say that even people who watch television strictly for entertainment are now watching the impeachment proceedings. Never in our history has a trial been recorded and televised from beginning to the end. For the great majority of the people, it is the very first court trial that they have witnessed. That is why the impeachment trial should be a model of how trials should be conducted. Every person – whether judge or prosecutor should comport themselves with the decorum and dignity befitting their positions.

Three spectators were expelled and permanently banned from attending the hearings of the impeachment court without even establishing the facts. It is true that a spectator who openly misbehaves can summarily be expelled from the premises.

The three happen to be Dante Jimenez, who is chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption and one of the complainants in the impeachment case; Bettina Aboitiz, a Forbes Park Makati councilor; and Rosanna Tuason-Fores, a first cousin of Vice President Gloria Mapacagal Arroyo’s husband and married to the son of Dr. Raul Fores, personal physician of former President Fidel V. Ramos. Her husband is related to Mar Roxas because Mar’s mother, Judy, and Mrs. Fores are sisters. Ruby Roxas and Tessie Delgado Villongco were sitting right behind the three and they attest that the three did not stand up or violate any rule of behavior for the spectators of the impeachment case. But what is really important is that in their case, they were not summarily ejected. There was a hearing because the senators-judges held a caucus to hear Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago’s accusation that three persons in the gallery looked at her in a "provocative way." But they did not bother to hear the side of the accused.

Is this an example of the justice that we can expect from the impeachment court?