The legacy of the robe

WHETHER or not Chief Justice Renato Corona is acquitted in his impeachment trial, he will never be the same.

He will be remembered not for his able leadership of the Judiciary, or his erudition in penning decisions, but for the circus that surrounded his trial.

Whether or not his lawyers are able to refute the allegations made by the prosecution, Corona will always be perceived as an ally of the reviled former President Gloria Arroyo. He will be known as that official who understated his assets and challenged President Benigno Aquino III to prove his mental fitness. He will be that justice who dared speak out and fight back.

President Aquino, for his part, has acknowledged that Corona’s trial would make or break his fight against corruption. Spewing bile on his enemy instead of talking to students about their future, Mr. Aquino rendered the impeachment court irrelevant, proclaiming his conclusions unapologetically.

Nobody is taking either the President or the chief justice seriously these days. Both of them have stooped to new lows attacking each other outside the impeachment court.

Caught in the middle are the 23 senator-judges whose demeanor and eventual decision will outlive them. They must know this at their core.

This trial will be retold for generations to come. Much will be said of the protagonists, but much will be said as well of the robed men and women who sat day after day listening to the evidence and asking “clarificatory” questions.

The senator-judges must take offense at the efforts to influence their decision. They must shun assumptions that political considerations would determine how they will decide.

They should be insulted at the President’s words that just because they are few, they must relinquish their power to the people. They have already been chosen by the people to represent them. Now the law says the elected representatives must take action.

History is not kind to those who trample on the law while making a show of righteousness.

We bank on the senator-judges to steer this trial to its rightful course—to determine whether a man is guilty of the charges hurled against him based on evidence, and nothing else. Our democracy depends on this.

Political affiliations are temporary. Interests may be served today, or the next elections. The senator-judges must realize it is not enough reason to bungle their legacy.