Touch move

It’s a bit strange to see the Chief Justice running to his colleagues at the Supreme Court, asking them to restrain the Senate from further proceeding with the impeachment case against him. It has already been a couple of weeks since he showed up all pious at the Senate, and sicced his crack legal team on the prosecution, and so far, they’ve been real bad-ass about the trial.But as soon as the Senate got to the point where his bank accounts were to be revealed, the Chief Justice did a complete volte-face, and he now wants a hall pass. (I wanted to say jail pass, but that could have just been a Freudian slip.)

But what happened to the man who so boldly proclaimed, less than a month ago, that he would fight to prove his innocence?Is this the way to prove his innocence, that he would ask his brethren to intervene and use their judicial strength to block the impeachment process?Wouldn’t his innocence be better displayed to the public if he slugged it out with the prosecution?He did say “wala nang atrasan” (there is no turning back), right?So isn’t this exactly that?

What’s more, he’s also asking the Supreme Court to prohibit the disclosure of his dollar accounts.For this, he relies on the protection of the law on foreign currency deposits, hoping that it would prevent any further revelations on his exact wealth.Again, is this the mark of a man set to prove his innocence?If he is really innocent, then why doesn’t he just waive the secrecy the law affords him, and just produce those darn bank statements?

His lawyers say they ran to the Supreme Court because they are like rats in a corner.In the same breath, they assure us that they are not desperate.Funny, I always thought that when someone is cornered, he becomes desperate.Unless of course, he really wanted to be cornered in the first place.That, however, I would consider flirting.

So is that what the prosecution is doing, flirting with the impeachment court, letting it show a little bit of the tactics it can unleash, before coyly coming back and cooperating a teeny tiny bit more?After all, Chief Justice Corona has just declared that he will fight “to the last breath.” Does this mean he’s going to go back to the Senate for another boring round of repetitive objections to the evidence against him, all designed to make it more difficult to present proof of his guilt?Or does that mean he intends to fight in some other venue?One in where he is the titular head?

The Supreme Court has ruled on one of the Chief Justice’s petition, issuing a temporary restraining order against the subpoena on his dollar accounts.What does this accomplish for Corona?He may have been able to stop the hard documents from coming to light, but it surely isn’t stopping the public’s minds from coming to the very ugly conclusion that he has something to hide.Is this what the Chief Justice wants?Hide his dollars and win by technicality, but lose the faith of everyone else who’s still been giving him the benefit of the doubt?

Not a very smart tactic.At this stage, when his peso deposits already show that his cash found in just a couple of these accounts (P20 Million) was much more than what he declared in his official filings (P3.5 Million), to even try to maintain his innocence is a bit tedious.The minute his dollar deposits are opened up, and there’s even just a few dollars there, the variance between his assets and what he declared becomes wider, and all the more he will have become a, well, if not a liar, then a seriously negligent filer. 

If he fights to the death, so to (Corona-) speak, and he is able to prevent the revelation of his greenbacks, he still emits a suspicious stench that taints his name.Maybe he’s not in a corner, but perhaps, he’s more like stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea.

The more that Corona relies on the Supreme Court to fight his fight, the more that the populace will cease to believe in the integrity of that institution.Corona might actually have a good case under the law, he may even win on the legal merits, but it’s not going to do the Supreme Court itself any good.If he really wants to save the institution, all he has to do is go back to Plan A – prove his innocence.

Unless of course, Plan A has been ditched.