Impeachment tribunal could have saved time with pre-trial

Had a pre-trial been conducted in the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the impeachment tribunal could have saved at least 50 percent of precious time.

During pre-trial, the documentary proofs would have been identified and pre-marked in evidence; machine copies of documents could have been compared with their originals; stipulation of facts and on what constitutes an impeachable offense would have been agreed upon by the parties; the issues to be resolved would have been determined; and the number of witnesses to be presented by both sides, including the gist and estimated length of their testimonies, would have been specified.

As it turns out, prolonged arguments over these matters is consuming most of the time of the impeachment court.

The pre-trial would have been finished in just one session, after which the tribunal could have issued a pre-trial order to serve as a chart or guide to be followed during the course of the trial.

And the proceedings could have moved forward smoothly, with no surprises, useless arguments, fishing expeditions and even redundant manifestations like “Just for the record,
Your Honor,” “We would like to state for the record, Your Honor,” etc., as if the whole exercise was not being recorded on tape and/or by stenographic notes.

Court litigation is not supposed to be a duel wherein the more skillful swordsman prevails. It’s all about eliciting the truth with the presentation of testimonial, documentary and objective evidence by officers and gentlemen of the court, and the application of the pertinent provisions of law by the tribunal to determine if the respondent is guilty or not.

The sooner this irritating impeachment trial is put to bed the better for our country.

—SAMUEL DIAZ ESTIMO,

lawyer, [email protected]