A voice from the past

The fat is in the fire. Yesterday, the Senate Court hearing the impeachment case against Chief Justice Renato Corona announced its decision to admit as evidence the information about his bank accounts, as well as the records from the banks also presented by the prosecution. Yesterday also delivered a double whammy, for the defense, with the surfacing of a close relative of Mrs. Cristina Corona, who revealed to the Daily Inquirer “family secrets” involving the Corona couple.

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Those who have been following the hearing will surely remember the fuss made over the vast amounts entered into the deposits of the couple, that the prosecution tried to show, were not all proportionate to his income. One of the sources of their wealth, it was pointed out, was the fund, in the millions, advanced to the Coronas by the corporation of which Mrs. Corona was an official. The relative who made the revelations yesterday, Anna Basa, is now residing in the United States, but she was very willing to tell all, as far as their money transactions with the Corona couple were concerned.

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Oh, the clever lawyers on the defense side will swiftly find some justifications for that, but what if Ms. Basa offers to testify at the trial? That is, if she still could, now that the prosecution has dropped some of the articles in the impeachment charges? Ms. Basa was so articulate and had the facts at her fingertips, so it might take a lot of untangling for the defense to shake off the effects of her claims.

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Meanwhile, the Senate-Court has also decided not to cite lawyer Vitaliano Aguirre for contempt anymore, but simply admonish him to behave better in the court. But, is it only Aguirre who should be admonished? Shouldn’t the Court also tell Madame Miriam Santiago to watch her language, and not go on as if both the congressmen and the senators were her hapless students? Why are they all just allowing her to have the run of the place, are they afraid of her? Well, she has her blood pressure to protect her, but most watchers of the hearings are aghast at what she is allowed to do. As for Aguirre, maybe the court also felt he had reason to plug his ears. Maybe Senator Jinggoy squealed on him because he envied him?

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The government, especially the Tourism Department, should hurry up and seek that apology from American actor Taylor Kitsch, as well as TV host David Letterman for the slur they made on our country by announcing that Kitsch had been mistreated by a Customs officer in Manila. It has been determined that the actor was never in the country, and there are no records anywhere that he had been in the airport, much less in the country, and the chances are that he was in Indonesia, where he was supposed to shoot a movie.

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If Letterman is an ethical journalist, he should clarify matters immediately knowing he had done great damage to our reputation, and, mostly to our tourism industry. As for Kitsch, how come he couldn’t tell what country he was in? Was he high? Or did he simply lack sleep? If he doesn’t apologize, or at least clarify, we should boycott any movie he is featured in, and tell our friends and kin abroad to do the same. Maybe he was trying to attract media attention, but he should not victimize people on the way.

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An interesting report from China says that the man who is likely to become the next president of that country is married to a singer and so their first lady may be a stage performer. Well, that would not be new for China, remember that their idol Mao Tse Tung was also married to an actress, Jiang Qing. Unfortunately she was imprisoned when he died, accused of being a member of the Gang of Four suspected of planning to take over the government. Well, we also had a first lady who was a singer – remember Imelda Marcos and her signature song, “Dahil sa Iyo”? She was even in the news in the U.S. when she sang “Strangers in the Night” in a classy restaurant there, when her husband was at the height of his powers.

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Two famous brothers died recently and they are both men who had made a big impact on the administrations of their kin. One was former Ambassador Benjamin “Kokoy” Romualdez, brother of Imelda Marcos, and the other was Rep. Ignacio “Iggy” Arroyo, brother-in-law of former president Gloria Arroyo. Both played important roles during the terms of their powerful relatives, and have left their imprints in the history of our country. We don’t know yet how history will judge them, but at the moment, we pray for them and hope that they have met their Creator and have made their peace.*

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