Integrity of trial raises US concern

A day after the start of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, a bipartisan group of senior US senators visiting Manila was received by President Aquino in Malacañang where, according to a presidential spokesperson, the President gave a briefing on bilateral issues between the United States and the “hot thing going on now”—that is the  trial of Corona.

The timing of the visit immediately aroused more than the ordinary curiosity of the public in regard to its purpose. It came after Agence France-Presse reported on Jan. 16 that “a historic impeachment trial began Monday in one of President Aquino’s boldest yet most decisive moves to tackle pervasive corruption.”

The AFP report said Mr. Aquino “won a landslide election victory in 2010 on a platform to end corruption that has plagued the Philippines for decades and which he said worsened dramatically during the time that [President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo] had led  before him.”

The report said the President marshaled his allies in Congress to impeach Corona last month, labelling him a “rogue magistrate” loyal to Arroyo, who appointed him to the top judicial post shortly before she stepped down as president, adding that public opinion polls show Mr. Aquino “enjoys overwhelming backing for his antigraft efforts.”

Although Mr. Aquino “is widely regarded as not being corrupt,” his critics and some supporters say he has been employing questionable tactics in going after Corona and Arroyo,” according to AFP. Some say, the report said, Mr. Aquino “dangerously weakened the independence of the judiciary.”

This report represents one of the perspectives the foreign press based in the Philippines projects as the most turbulent constitutional crisis faced by Philippine democracy since the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada in 2001 over the issue of corruption.

The Corona impeachment trial has put to a crucial test the doctrine of separation of powers among the three branches of government—the  coequal executive, the legislature and the judiciary—that underpins Philippine constitutional democracy.

‘Hot thing going on’

It has also become one of the most divisive issues that have fractured Philippine society since the collaboration issue among the country’s political elite during the Japanese occupation in World War II.

It is not farfetched to say that the visit of the US congressional delegation, led by former Republican Party presidential candidate John McCain and Joe Lieberman, was prompted mainly by concerns over critical reports on the controversial methods employed by Mr. Aquino and his allies in Congress in pushing the impeachment of Corona and cases of plunder and electoral sabotage against Arroyo, who has been detained without bail while awaiting trial.

It’s fair to say that the issue of the fairness of the trial of Corona, which is the overriding issue in the impeachment case, is the main concern of the US government in sending the McCain mission.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda admitted that Mr. Aquino had a “good discussion” with the US delegation on both bilateral concerns and domestic issues, among which was the Corona trial. He did not elaborate on the topics.

While he admitted that the President brought up the trial during the meeting, Lacierda merely said “because that’s the hot thing going on now.” Not much of an exchange took place in the meeting. “They were just briefed,” he said.

The US Secretary of State had stated that the delegation would “not be involved in internal events in the Philippines.” Of course, the State Department will not say its visiting delegations would be interfering in the internal affairs of host countries, and this is what diplomacy is about. But the United States has a history of interventions in Philippine crises, overt or covert.

US interventions

The Aquino administration would be completely naive if it deluded itself into believing that its actions in intervening are not being closely watched in respect to the fairness of the trial. This piece is not a call for intervention in domestic political conflicts. It is stating merely historical facts on US interventions in Philippine turbulent conflicts.

The US delegation said it had meetings with Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario on bilateral issues between the two countries, mainly US assistance to strengthen Philippine maritime security in the light of the territorial dispute in the South China Sea between the Philippines, China and other claimants of territories in that strategic and resource-rich body of water.

But that has nothing to do with internal issues that went up to the level of the President.

After the meeting with Del Rosario, McCain said the Philippines had “strong affinity” with the United States and promised to help facilitate the Philippine request for a third Coast Guard cutter to patrol its territorial waters from incursions of hostile third powers in the region.

But the visit of the McCain delegation at a time of political turmoil in the Philippines may also be a signal from Washington that it is not indifferent to the way the Aquino administration is handling the impeachment trial and ensuring that it should be conducted fairly and under the rule of law.

During the snap election called by Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, a high-powered US political mission led by Sen. Richard Lugar came to observe if the balloting would be free and fair. In 1987, during the coup attempt against the Cory Aquino administration, the United States sent flights of Phantom jet fighters to warn the rebels that Washington was defending her.

The current Aquino administration is not under threat of being toppled. This time, Washington’s concern or interest in the current crisis appears to be the integrity of a fair trial.