Aquino vs. Corona

It is wisely said that when giants fight it is best for pygmies to step aside because the giants trample anything blocking their way. Such is the fight of the Chief Executive Benigno Aquino and Chief Justice Renato Corona while the Chief Presiding Judge of the Impeachment Court is trying to minimize the damage to the national psyche. Instead of the battle winding down it is getting fiercer.

Sen. Edgardo Angara described the trial as the “agony of the nation” as he urged his colleagues to speed up the process and not to prolong this anguish.

The unraveling information indicates that the effort to remove Corona had started as early as two months after Aquino took office in 2010 and came to a head only last December. This impeachment was thus planned for months with the sole intent of removing Corona who is not pleasing and acceptable to Aquino. Before he took office, Aquino already refused to recognize Corona as chief justice, thus departing from honored tradition that the President is proclaimed by Congress and sworn into office by the Chief Justice.

Nobody had thought that Aquino would be so vindictive as to start the campaign to get rid of Corona early and we thought that Aquino’s plan was triggered only by the decisions of the Supreme Court in the case of the TRO favoring Gloria Arroyo and the Hacienda Luisita case. These two are thus merely the matches that lit the fuse.

From the very start of the impeachment the nation was divided, protagonists on both sides used the media as weapons to sway public opinion to their side. They are clearly battling before two courts – that of the Senate and bar of public opinion.

Media accommodated with a vengeance and exacerbated the already tense situation and created detailed subject matters for discussion in the barrio tianggue to high end coffee shops that suddenly erupted with experts in law and trial procedures, especially on radio and television.

At the onset, Corona was perceived guilty until the prosecution fumbled and stumbled so that people are beginning to rethink their position although early on a television show survey revealed that 68 percent of the respondents believe that Corona will not be impeached.

This faked or stolen evidence and the denial of a prosecution witnesses were blows to the Aquino camp that, if the defense takes an aggressive posture can lead to the disbarment of the Rep. Neil Tupas and his co-prosecutors for submitting to the court a faked or stolen document and the collapse of their charges. Support for the impeachment is receding and this will be bad for Aquino. Recent events show that Aquino is using the power of his office to batter Corona down.

The pronouncements of Aquino and the encore of his lieutenants confirm the weakness of the prosecution that in effect, exposes him in the forefront of the battlefield which commanders ought not to position. He looks like a man trying to salvage the situation by interfering in the process. Sure, he is free as any citizen to comment but he missed the point – he is not just Benigno Aquino the citizen; he is President of the Republic and his words carry a lot of impact on all sectors of the country, especially those vulnerable to government action.

The plan of the supporters of Aquino to use the celebration of the EDSA 1 revolt to demand for the resignation of the Chief Justice or to pressure the senators to declare Corona guilty reinforces the perception that the Impeachment Court might dismiss the charges and embarrass Aquino. They too must help salvage the President from grave embarrassment.

Indeed the recent actuations and declarations of Aquino can be interpreted as an attempt to help the prosecution who seems to stumble all over. There is apparent panic within and they are showing it even in the way they handle their press conferences.

The defense appears no longer need to show strength as the prosecution exhibits its weakness.

There are calls from many sectors to put an end to this agony. I doubt if Aquino will yield, otherwise he would be perceived to have recklessly forced the issue. He would lose face and weaken his popular support. So far he has used only the Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Department of Justice, the Land Registration Authority and the Securities and Exchange Commission to brow beat Corona. If it comes out that even the Central Bank has been used, then we know Aquino will never let Corona off the hook.

Both sides had dug in and the worst are yet to come unless a compromise is reached. The President, the Congress and nation are hooked to the trial and plenty of urgent issues and problems are left unaddressed. The weekly rise in fuel prices is beginning to take their toll and the government is paralyzed.*

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