High drama

Whether it was pre-planned or not, Chief Justice Renato Corona’s attempt to walk out last Tuesday without being subjected to cross examination was damaging to his case.

Considering his long experience on the bench, Chief Justice Corona should have known that he was still subject to cross examination.

Senate Pres. Juan Ponce Enrile ordered him to come back on Wednesday or else he would strike out his whole narration and consider the case closed and ready for decision.

But wait, the announcement of Medical City doctors now is to the effect that he is under observation for possible heart attack and is now confined at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Medical City. He had 2 heart bypass operations.

If that is certified by the doctors, then he must be given a reasonable time to recuperate. But the problem is Congress is due to go into its annual recess by June 7. And certainly the Senate appears to be not inclined to keep the case pending, much less to postpone it until the 4th Monday of July.

It’s going to be a tough decision for the Senators but they have to put a closure to this case.

Anyway, Christian charity dictates that we hope and pray Chief Justice Corona’s condition is not serious and he could recover after a few days.

Sen. Pia Cayetano said on ANC with Karen Davila that she felt that Corona did walk out.

But the defense can argue, no, because he did come back and the Senate Impeachment Court suspended the trial until yesterday, Wednesday.

CJ Corona’s signing of a waiver was a dramatic surprise but he took it back when he imposed a precondition that 188 Congressmen who signed the complaint and Sen. Franklin Drilon also sign waivers on their dollar deposits.  

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DAY 41 . . Justice Serafin Cuevas reported that he went to the Medical City and was told by the doctors and Mrs. Corona that the Chief Justice was not mentally and physically able to testify.

The Senate President ruled that the defense is given until Friday to finish its case. Oral arguments will be heard on Monday after which decision or voting will immediately follow on Monday or at the latest on Tuesday. The prosecution waived its right to cross examine the Chief Justice.

The prosecution lawyers led by Cong. Niel Tupas and Sen. Franklin Drilon said they will not sign a waiver.

Congratulations are in order for Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the 22 Senators and the Senate Secretariat Personnel for an efficient handling of 41 days of impeachment trial.

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HYPOGLYCEMIA . . I was seated behind Chief Justice Corona at the Senate last Tuesday. I heard him say very clearly “The Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines wishes to be excused.”

If it is true he had a hypoglycemia attack then in all probability he was feeling dizzy and was about to throw up. The fact is, he did return on a wheelchair to the Senate floor and he was properly excused.

If not attended to promptly, hypoglycemia can cause a heart attack.

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MUCH SHORT . . DOLE Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz downplayed SWS survey results which showed that the number of jobless Filipinos rose to 4.1 million.

Sec. Baldoz claimed that the number of employed Filipinos rose by 1.1 million during the first quarter. Even accepting that figure, there are still 3 million Filipinos unemployed.

UP Professors still insist that there is still no roadmap for job creation. Increasing by 1.1 million jobs is still too short for the unemployed persons.

One big problem, the slow pace of approval, awards and the implementation of public works projects.

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WATER PROBLEM . . Communities in Sagada, Mountain Province are fighting over ownership of a spring which is the only source of water in that mountain town.

Professor Andrew Bacdayan has proposed that a water cooperative be formed instead of the inefficient local water districts.

In many communities, water is wasted as there has been no water conservation systems put up.

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PLAYING GAMES . . China is playing games with us after holding the entry of 1,500 containers of bananas in 3 ports, they now allow 30-40 containers to come in.

The Philippines exports $720 million worth of bananas to Japan, China, and Korea as top destinations.

In the meantime, Chinese warships are enforcing a fishing ban at Panatag Shoal. Chinese tour agencies have cancelled tour packages to the Philippines with Boracay and Bohol suffering the biggest cancellations. 

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SHELL CHARGED . . Dhess Aclan, Publisher of the Headlines newspaper in Batangas City has written Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales to charge Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation with nonpayment of P1.6 billion for its importation of alkalyte which is gasoline.

Aclan charged that former Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez and incumbent Comm. Rufino Biazon have not sent a letter of demand for payment to Shell. She also charged DOF Sec. Cesar Purisima for not acting on the case.

Aclan enclosed to her complaint a Tariff Commission ruling dated March 12, 2012 that alkalyte is gasoline. But everyone is sitting on the case.

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TIDBITS . . . Our prayers go for Jessica Sanchez who is fighting for the American Idol award tonight. She’s the 1st Filipina to reach the top 2 position. She has a good chance to win with a big Filipino and Mexican vote.

Ordinary workers are complaining that with P30/day increase in ECOLA, they will now pay 20% in taxes.

Rosendo So, head of the Swine Development Council reported that 87 million kilograms of pork were smuggled into the country last year. Translation, smugglers and cooperating Custom officers made an estimated P500 million.