The Impeachment Trial

Biggest And Smallest Crocodile

The Philippines now holds the world records for the largest and smallest captured crocodiles.

The largest is Lolong (20’3”) is now confined in Agusan Del Sur.

Lolong is the largest crocodile now in captivity. A male Indo-Pacific or Saltwater crocodile (Crocodylus porosus), that weighs 2,370 pounds (1,075 kilograms) and a length of 20 feet 3 inches (6.17 meters), making him one of the largest crocodiles ever measured from snout-to-tail. In captivity, it surpassed the length of the eighteen-foot record-holder Cassius of Australia, the twenty-foot Nile crocodile Gustave and even the twenty-foot crocodile caught in New Guinea on 1983.

The smallest (4'3") is now confined in Quezon City, at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), and goes by the name of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Lately, in joint cooperation between the House of Representatives and Malacanang, and hopely the Senate, the Philippines is now in the process of claiming another big catch: A crocodile that goes by the name of Renato Corona.

Is Corona The Guardian Of Arroyo?

PNoy starts a hate Chief Justice campaign. He says Supreme Court is a “den of corruption”.

PNoy says Corona was not placed in the Supreme Court to be the guardian of the law, but to be the guardian of Arroyo.

The move against Corona was said to have been prompted by information that the Supreme Court would try to void the arrest order against Arroyo.

However, there were no actual marching orders from President Noynoy Aquino to initiate an impeachment. The Liberal Party members of the House of Representatives have long talked about it and were almost unanimous in their desire to somehow reform the judiciary.

"It is very painful when you try studying the law and in the end, it is not what you know but who you know. It is a wake up call to the Supreme Court and whoever is the next Chief Justice to set straight the justice system from the Metropolitan Trial Courts, to the Municipal Trial Courts, to the Regional Trial Courts and the Court of Appeals to make them behave better because it has been very painful for a lot of us."

The Arroyo-inclined justices should stop thinking that in protecting Arroyo, they are shorn of any accountability, not even by impeachment, because it is time the people, through their representatives in Congress, to end their tyranny. What we are seeing here is the President and Congress reclaiming the Court for the people.

Pnoy to Corona: “It is time to face the music!”

  

The Senate As An Impeachment Court

The Senate convenes as an impeachment court to try the country's top judge. Chief Justice Renato Corona. The impeachment proceedings will start on January 16, 2012. It will be from Monday to Thursday every 2 pm. Fridays will be for submission of motions.

Atty. Tina Cruz, Senate legal counsel will be the official spokesperson of the Senate impeachment court.

A reversal of roles: Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona to face a Senate court.

All-senator caucus is done. The copies of the Articles of Impeachment, and the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials were already distributed. They've been studying the rules before the impeachment trial of former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez was aborted. Every senator now has their own Judicial robe that they already wore during the oath-taking ceremony when the Senate convened as an impeachment court. The Senate is ready.

Only one-third of the Lower House was needed to impeach, but it requires two-thirds of the Senate to convict.

Out of the 23 Senators, there are only four senators who are members of the Aquino-led Liberal Party: Senators Francis Pangilinan, Franklin Drilon, Ralph Recto and Teofisto Guingona III. Those who have signified support for the President on several issues are Senators Panfilo Lacson, Sergio Osmeña III, Francis Escudero,and Antonio Trillanes IV.

There are eight charges brought against Corona in this impeachment case.  Impeachment prosecutors need only one to effect an ouster.

Only one conviction would suffice for Corona to be removed from office….and some are saying the charges involving his “better half”, may become his “worst impeachable sin”.

 

Speedy Impeachment

The Congressmen gets flak for signing the impeachment complaint within less or more than two hours.

“Ang bilis, talo pa ang bullet train.” says Senator Joker Arroyo.

As a friend on Facebook says, "how supremely ironic, a midnight impeachment for a midnight appointee."

I Concur.

Apparently you can impeach a Supreme Court Justice overnight but take forever to pass the Freedom Of Information (FOI) and Reproductive Health (RH) bill.

Court Administrator and Spokesperson Midas Marquez says it was "lightning-like".

Representative Neil Tupas says, “We are not rushing impeachment, there's just no reason for delay.”

Impeachment, as a process, is constitutional. How they railroaded, is a constitutional blur? Surprise impeachment is a constitutional crisis?

Has the Philippine government turned into a railroading government?

Some even commented that “Mabilis talaga ang biyahe sa tuwid na daan, gamit ang NLEX: Noynoy Legislative Expressway!!!”

"Railroad" is so 19th century. Let just say that the Articles of Impeachment was probably uploaded on Facebook via wifi at the lower house, and got 188 "Likes" in just a few  hours. Some said the motivation is, “If you didn’t click, they will “unfriend” you”, or lose your “pork barrel” fund for next year.

If Corona is a “walking constitutional violation”. Our 188 congressmen who signed the impeachment are “running constitutional enforcement”.

Is Impeachment An Attack On The Judiciary

Should the Supreme Court be steadfast in their role as a co-equal branch of government mandated to interpret laws? If they capitulate, does the nation lose?

Constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin Bernas said: "In this critical moment of our constitutional history, my hope is that the justices of the Supreme Court... will not capitulate and that others in the judiciary will not tremble in their boots and yield what is constitutionally theirs to President Aquino. If they do, it will be tragic for our nation."

Is the impeachment an assault on all the rights, power and privileges of the entire Judiciary?

Does the perpetrators of this dastardly assault hope to inspire fear amongst the members of the Judiciary with the loud clamoring of their ill-advised leadership?

Midas Marquez says “The impeachment complaint is an attack not just on Corona but on the whole judiciary itself. We are being forced to surrender our constitutionally-mandated powers and functions to the whim and caprice of political machinations.”

Well then work to remove impeachment from the Constitution. But wouldn’t that lead to Judicial Dictatorship?

CGMA lawyer Atty. Lambino claims Aquino administration is out to destroy government institutions that do not conform to the whims of the Executive.

When a Chief Justice is impeached, Is it not an attack on the Supreme Court as a whole? I don’t think so, In fact, I believe it is strengthening the Supreme Court.

The impeachment process is part of the “check and balance” principle in the constitution not an assault on the judiciary.

The impeachment is a process of removal mandated by the Constitution itself. A constitutional process cannot spark a constitutional crisis.

How can availing of a constitutionally mandated accountability mechanism be an attack on the judiciary?The Chief Justice is NOT the Judiciary.

The impeachment isn't a nuclear bomb that destroys institutions. It's a scalpel used to remove a tumor.

An impeachment is a political exercise. Now people get to substantiate their prejudices in the Senate. However, Impeachment is meant not to be used, and abused, but an "emergency" tool to enforce accountability to certain officials.

The dangerous truth now is: Every litigant with an adverse decision now thinks, Impeach!

From Student Council President To Autocrat

Senator Joker Arroyo says the consequence of the impeachment would be PNoy controlling all the branches of the government. He said the same goal is achieved when declaring martial law.

“The way I look at it, Noynoy is smarter than Marcos because Marcos had to issue Proclamation No. 1081 to usher in martial law. Noy doesn’t have to do anything except to muscle in on everyone.

Marcos used poverty and communism as his excuse to commit abuses. We have a one-man government now since Noy has subjugated the House and is on his way to doing so to the judiciary.

If impeachment succeeds, PNoy will achieve being an autocrat without declaring martial law. Hes better than Marcos."

After saying Pnoy’s administration was a student council government, Senator Arroyo now says his is a genius administration.

"I misjudged him." Says Senator Arroyo

How did PNoy previously tagged as a retard and weakling, is now suddenly being hailed as a genius autocrat "smarter than Marcos"?

The Real Farce "In This Crisis, We Stand Together"

The real farce is the Chief Justice acting like a Cheap Cheerleader leading a hooting throng in black robes.

After that speech, Corona should now recuse himself from all cases filed by the Executive.

Speech of Chief Justice Renato Corona - December 14, 2011 - 

It is not about balls! It is about civility and propriety. You can rally the troops without being combative!

And isn't Midas Marquez the spokesperson of the Supreme Court as an institution and not the personal spokesperson of Corona? It seems that Midas Marquez is no longer a spokesperson of the Supreme Court but now lawyering for the Chief Justice.

When Marquez gave marching orders to court judges and employees to declare court holiday to support Chief Justice Corona, Edwin Lacierda hits Marquez of “subverting” justice.

“Mr. Marquez, remember SSS vs CA, G.R. No 85279? The Court said government employees have no right to strike.” says Lacierda.

“I only issued mere invitation for court employees to go to SC yesterday. No court holiday was required or directed.” says Marquez

Thats the danger of democracy, we are ruled by law but free to have varied interpretation of it.

Marquez seems to be an expert of all things. God's chosen. That’s why  I gloss over his lies and fallacies.

"SPOKESMAN" of Supreme Court has now become an anomalous legal invention, subversive of the very idea that Supreme Court speaks only thru jurisprudence.

I say this to all, when someone hurts you, you can either get bitter or you can get better.