Historic trial begins

MANILA - A historic impeachment trial of the Philippines' top judge began yesterday in one of President Benigno Aquino's boldest yet most divisive moves to tackle pervasive corruption.

Members of the 23-person Senate gathered as judges to determine whether Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona should be removed from his post and become the highest-profile scalp yet in Aquino's anti-graft crusade.

"Renato Corona by his misdeeds is unfit to remain chief justice," lead prosecutor Niel Tupas said in his opening address to the hearing, which could last months and seen Aquino accused of overstepping constitutional boundaries.

Court employees in Bacolod City gathered to air their support for Chief Justice Renato Corona whose impeachment trial began yesterday, while militant protestors staged a picket calling for his ouster.

The Peace Advocates of Negros also issued a statement saying Corona must go.

About 200 court employees in black and purple T-shirts joined a mass yesterday morning in support of Corona at the Bacolod Hall of Justice.

A businessman claiming to be a police colonel, who was arrested by the police Sunday after a car chase in Himamaylan City, Negros Occidental, is set to be charged today for illegal possession of firearms and prohibited drugs, as well as usurpation for authority, police chief Supt. Antonietto Caniete said.

The arrested businessman, Jose Zulueta,44, was intercepted Sunday at a checkpoint in Brgy. Suay, Himamaylan City, and high-powered firearms and three sachets of suspected shabu, were recovered from his Toyota Fortuner pick-up vehicle.

Caniete, said the substance suspected to be shabu recovered from his vehicle, was confirmed to be a prohibited drug, after examine from at the PNP Crime Laboratory.