‘Aided by media, the President and the Chief Justice are promoting the culture of irresponsible talk.’
IF he has the capability to listen, his chief legal counsel should tell President Aquino to stop talking out of turn. There are things proper for the President to say. There are things that are not and are variously interpreted as not knowing the dignity of his office. Therefore unpresidential.
For example, it is not proper for the President to tell media that he wants to secure the conviction of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Neophytes in media, on the other hand, should not ask the question. A president who is aware of the powers of his office should not answer when asked beyond saying that everything properly belongs to the impeachment court over which nobody has any form of control except the presiding officer.
Last week, the President was reported in media as saying he wanted to see the assailants of a journalist covering Malacañang convicted. He practically exerted influence on the judge trying the case, if an accused has already been charged.
The sad part about President Aquino’s statements mostly crucifying Renato Corona is that the Chief Justice retaliates in kind. He keeps saying that the President had him impeached for his ruling on Hacienda Luisita.
The Chief Justice also keeps saying that the President wants to impose a one-man rule.
This is a self-serving suggestion that if he is allowed to stay in office the Supreme Court will not allow one-man rule. That is not just uncalled for. The Supreme Court has no control over the imposition of a one-man rule as such rule is never sanctified by any court. It is imposed by a leader, but that leader cannot be Simeon Benigno Cojuangco Aquino III.
The Chief Justice is often heard as saying the President had him impeached because he wants to have a Supreme Court under his thumb. But it is widely known that almost two years after she stepped down, the Supreme Court remains loyal to Gloria Arroyo.
In fact Gloria Arroyo made sure that at least one or two years after the term of President Aquino expires in 2016, majority of the Supreme Court will remain loyal to the former leader.
So which president wants to have a court completely under his or her control. Wasn’t it Gloria Arroyo?
The protagonists in the impeachment trial are supposed to be the accusers from the House of Representatives and the respondent, the Chief Justice. As it now appears, the impeachment trial has been converted into a private war between President Aquino and CJ Corona.
Neither of the two ever thought of the fact that they should not say anything about the case unless in testimony.
Aided by media, the President and the Chief Justice are promoting the culture of irresponsible talk. The protagonists promote the ignorance about sub judice which means, from what I know, that nobody is allowed to say anything about a case pending resolution unless the statements are quoted from the briefs or submissions of counsels of both parties.
We have made a circus out of the impeachment trial. The President and the Chief Justice have a common objective. They want public opinion rallied behind them.
The difference is the President has the support of the people.
The Chief Justice has none as indicated by his minus 15 per cent acceptance rating according to the surveys.
The loquacious President and the loquacious Chief Justice remind one of what Alexander Pope wrote in his Essay on Criticism. He said “Words are like leaves where they most abound/much truth of sense beneath is rarely found.”
The frequent exchanges between the President and the Chief Justice show us up for what we really are. We are an immature people claiming to be living in a democracy that to us means only rights. We never think of rights as being accompanied by a heavier obligation.
In effect, the President and the Chief Justice talking out of turn feed the hunger of the people for venom. They both preach hatred to have the people rally behind them.
In the process, the impeachment court itself gets confused. Everybody in the court – the senator-judges, the prosecution and the defense are all involved in a media war.
Only one man – the 88-year old Juan Ponce Enrile – has remained sober. He behaves like a task master in a classroom telling his pupils they have to live by the rules.
None of these however, departs from the fact that the weight of evidence against the Chief Justice is getting heavier by the day. The respondent himself increases his own burden using a simple weapon – his mouth that he cannot keep closed for his own sake.
In the end, considering how the family of the wife of the Chief Justice has been dragged into the fray, the honorable thing left to do is for him to resign.
Without admitting guilt, it is honorable for the Chief Justice to say that he and his family has had enough of the indignities brought about by the trial.
He cannot see his family taking more. Saving a family from disgrace is more important than being a Chief Justice. Head magistrates come and go. A family does not. It must be kept intact at any cost, even at the cost of a job. The demeanor of the Chief Justice tells us he is unfit for the job.
The impeachment trial ripped open the man’s character. So did that of President Aquino.
The President is elected by the people. The Chief Justice was appointed by a President who stole the vote. The former president allowed, in fact may have ordered, her Court to “violate” the Constitution so she can appoint a Head Magistrate canine loyal to her.
Gloria Arroyo never had an impartial judicial system in mind in appointing Renato Corona to head the Court. Renato Corona never had anything in mind except his word to have Mrs. Arroyo walk in cases that are filed against her.
This is the most important matter that is lost in the brickbats between the President and the Chief Justice.
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