With CJ Corona out, it's time for cleansing

The conviction of Supreme Court (SC) Chief Justice Renato Corona by a vote of 20-3 is a total victory of the political establishment belonging to the Legislative branch of government in total collusion with the Executive branch that made no qualms in seeking the ouster of the highest magistrate in the land using all the resources of government, including black propaganda, lies, fake or spurious documents. Regardless of what Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile (JPE) says in public that he voted to oust CJ Corona from the point of view of the evidence… he still ended up voting because it was politically expedient for him.

Twenty Senators voted to oust CJ Corona, while only three voted not to convict. Everyone gave all their reasons for their vote, but in my book, Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago gave the most eloquent, albeit a most truthful reportage of what stuff our politicians are truly made of. I’m sure that the Filipino people applauded Maid Miriam when she said, “God, please give me one more life so I can investigate all of them in the Senate and Congress, including myself.” It was at this point that Presiding Officer JPE tried to stop her… because she was now literally spilling the beans on the truth about our politicians. I was never a Maid Miriam fan, but now I salute her!

At this point, I’m glad that CJ Corona has already accepted his fate. In my book, the Senate convicted him on his failure to declare his dollar accounts, to which Sen. Miriam clearly pointed out that this was not an impeachable offense as the Bank Secrecy Act protects anyone with dollar deposits, of which no less than CJ Corona dared, invited and challenged all the 188 and Sen. Franklin Drilon to also sign their bank waivers.

 But the die has been cast… as Teddy Locsin Jr. of ANC’s “Teditorial” said last Tuesday night, “The decision of the Senate impeachment court making up a law as the trial went along and then convicting for it is the bill of attainder of which Enrile warned. This was not impeachment as a political process, but a political assassination masquerading as a judicial procedure. An impeachment aspires to judicial procedure, ever mindful of judicial rules, above all respectful of due process that no citizen can be denied however high or low.

That is why the senators wore the costumes of judges to look like judges. But this was not a trial but a long execution carried out by the legislature at executive behest. The grounds for the chief justice’s impeachment were culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust. Culpable means blameworthy that excludes unintentional wrong. In this case, the act was not even wrong. The BIR says no taxpayer ever declared dollar deposits.” 

Teddy Boy added, “Of what was the chief justice accused that made him pestilent and his tenure perilous? It is the chief justice’s accusers in the Palace, in the House, in the Senate and in the media who threaten democracy, the rule of law and the order of political society.” This is the first time I quoted Teddy Boy Locsin Jr. for his “Teditorial” last Tuesday evening was more eloquent than most of our Senators’ statement of their votes.

At this point many of us had a huge sigh of relief that this “Made-for-Reality-TV” episode is finally over and done with so that our political leaders can move forward to fix all what needs to be fixed in this country. But let me make this declaration… we must learn the bitter lessons of this Senate impeachment trial and use it to cleanse the ranks of our government of deeply-rooted corruption. Since the 20 Senators declared CJ Corona guilty as charged… then the next step is for them to prove that they too are exemplary and like Caesars’ wife… must be above suspicion.

Already the social networking sites have gone viral and have targeted Sen. Lito Lapid purported for trending, but the bigger expose’ was that last November 2011, his wife was caught smuggling US$50,000 dollars in Las Vegas. Wags are asking… whether that money came from Sen. Lapids’ dollar deposits? Ordinary folk like you and me could only be amazed that a Senators’ wife would be so bold as to try to bring in US dollars in cash into the US without declaring it in US Customs? Yet the same Sen. Lito Lapid found CJ Corona guilty for not declaring his dollar deposits in his SALNs. If you want to see the face of a hypocrite that that Sen. Miriam Santiago mentioned, it is the face of Sen. Lapid.

So where do we go from here? First let me say it now… the RH Bill will finally be passed against the church’s objections and soon we will have a Divorce law and same sex marriage. Then the PCOS machines TRO will be dropped so the Comelec can have its Electronic Dagdag Bawas, then finally the SC will reverse the decision on the Hacienda Luisita. So there you are… under Pres. PNoy, it is truly more fun in the Philippines!

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