It is now history

Published by the Visayan Daily Star Publications, Inc.

NINFA R. LEONARDIA Editor-in-Chief & President

CARLA P. GOMEZ Editor CHERYL CRUZ Desk Editor PATRICK PANGILINAN Busines Editor NIDA A. BUENAFE Sports Editor RENE GENOVE Bureau Chief, Dumaguete MAJA P. DELY Advertising Coordinator

CARLOS ANTONIO L. LEONARDIA Administrative Officer

It is finished.

The impeachment trial of Supreme Court Justice Renato Corona has come to a close after 44 days of hearings, presentations of evidences, witnesses, and a lot of angst both on the part of the prosecution and the defense, and, most probably, on the part of the accused head of the highest and most prestigious court of the land.

They were harrowing days and a major challenge to all those who had roles in it. The prosecution, initially slammed for inadequate preparation, and for some bum steers that had apparently stymied them, and the defense, earlier focusing on the brilliant record of their lead lawyer, a former justice himself, also got into some tight situations as when they insisted on calling to the witness stand, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, whose testimony even damned their client further.

And then came the accused himself, Chief Justice Corona, who used up an entire session with a three-hour peroration on his aggravations that included dirty linen of his wife’s family, tirades against the President, and against his perceived persecuters. This, he ended abruptly by walking out of the Senate Hall with the arrogant statement “The Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines wishes to be excused”, stunning even Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding judge.

Unfortunately for Corona, nobody but his family and probably his lawyers seemed convinced by his later claim of having suffered from hypoglycemia, a consequence that can be anticipated by most diabetics. When he returned, under threat from the court that it would end the hearings and decide on available records, it seemed to be all over, and the voting was set for May 28 yesterday, where it ended with a 20-3 result, for his conviction.

The rest is now history.*