The defense team has announced that Chief Justice Renato Corona will testify at his Senate impeachment trial. Let us see if this comes to pass or if it’s merely more smoke.
My own immediate take is that it’s the latter. If Corona does testify, it can’t be to tell the truth. It just isn’t the way Corona or his bosses do things. In fact, they wouldn’t know the Truth if it hit them in the face.
And Truth is definitely hitting them in the face now. Study the sworn statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) filed by Corona himself. Review the entire strategy of obfuscation and delay by his lawyers and media handlers. Contrast these with
Sr. Flory Basa’s simple story. All this is evidence of how alien Corona’s group and Truth are to each other. And when the Senate trial is completed, it is hard to see how any verdict other than conviction can be reached by nonpartisans.
If anything, the announcement that Corona will bare all is a veiled threat against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales and Justices Maria Lourdes Sereno and Antonio Carpio. What hasn’t been said by the defense is that the nature and use of the funds being questioned may involve all Supreme Court justices as well as some senators and congressmen. If all this is bared, this could make for a nuclear explosion in Philippine politics and government. Are the justices, senators and congressmen willing to risk this?
I think it is good that Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile is calling this defense bluff and will let the chips fall where they may. Our country’s redemption and progress can only be properly served by the Truth.
—JOSE OSIAS,
jzosias@gmail.com