Corona – the drama ends

It would be difficult to find a parallel for the Corona drama which, for all practical purpose will end today, Friday. The defense will have an hour to wrap up the weepy story of the Chief Justice, and the prosecution who, I understand, will not cross-examine the Chief Justice will also have an hour for submitting their evidence, make their arguments and most probably an additional hour to dispute Corona’s defense. (Corona, as I write, is in the intensive unit of his hospital. Whether he can make an appearance today is in the air although, if experience is any guide, his doctors will probably prohibit him from undergoing the ordeal of facing his accusers. The Senate President has given the Chief Justice an ultimatum to be present- or else his case will be considered submitted.

So what can one say about Corona’s trial. What consensus has been forged by the media, by the millions glued to their TV, the radio, the newspapers?

I have the impression that the Chief Justice was talking to the whole country, and incidentally only to the Senate as a court. For a while it would appear that his tearful explanation captured many a heart. But that terrible blunder of seeming to “walk-out” of the proceedings is unexplained. The result is that it wiped all the favorable effect of the statements of C.J. Corona that one could almost hear the case of the defense crack like a bone.

What do you think would be the verdict of the Senate Tribunal? Guilty or not guilty?

I suspect that by this time, each and every senator, for whatever reason, has already decided on the Corona case. I suspect that some of them may be influenced by public opinion on the issue. As politicians, that’s par for the course.

What then is the rampant belief of the public? We must consider that a great number of people in this country have become quite cynical, not only about politicians who run for public office, but also public servants in high positions. This may be unfair to those who maintain their integrity, but public belief is affected by big headlines of corruption or by the gossip in their own communities.

Whatever it is, that is the way, as they say, the cookie crumbles.

As I write, (Thursday) the Chief Justice is still in the hospital. Will he attend the hearing today, Friday?

It is claimed that after the Corona affair, acquittal or conviction, the Supreme Court will never be the same again. Most definitely there will be a more careful judicial attitude. However, judicial timidity ought not ensue from the Corona trial so long as judicial actions are in consonance with legal propriety, the constitution, the jurisprudence.

What are the possibilities in the Corona case? A conviction, of course, ends the matter, definitely. More problematic is the verdict of acquittal. Will Corona go back to being the Chief Justice or will he resign later pleading ill-health? Anyway, his reputation rehabilitated, he could enjoy an idyllic retirement. Again, we are not Nostradamus.

The tri-partite system, under the constitution, should go on, but improved with more faithful adherence to law at all levels. Lip service should be eschewed – action speak louder than words.

We cherish our courts. They are supposed to protect the weak from the excesses of the strong and powerful. Ideally, there is no need for the brothers Tulfo as defenders of the powerless. But since our system has not developed to a more perfect stage, maybe we should have the Tulfos around and even say hey, don’t batter one of them.

Looking back, I can not but be impressed with periodic political convulsions. There was Edsa where flowers triumphed over bayonets, then the sudden kick out of Erap, the COMELEC case against the severely sick former president GMA, and of course the present spectacle of a Chief Justice trying to evade the verdict of guilty. Is there something unstable in our system? Or political cultures? Or are we fated to be witnesses of political upheavals which, while they provide entertainment, are really tragedies.*

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