The impeachment trial against Chief Justice Renato C. Corona which has started in the Senate has all the hallmarks of a new stage of combat between warring factions of the Philippines’ ruling classes.

On one hand is President Benigno Aquino III and the Liberal Party-led House majority which instigated the impeachment proceeding. According to them, Corona’s impeachment is important to ensure the prosecution of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

On the other hand, there is Corona himself and his allies inside and outside the Supreme Court, including trial judges, court employees and the current leadership of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines. Corona and his camp say they are standing solidly behind the constitutional principles of checks and balances, and the independence of the judiciary.

oOo

The Aquino camp perhaps thought that the railroading of the impeachment proceeding at the level of the House of Representatives in Dec. 2011, just before the Christmas holidays would shame Corona so much that he would resign. Not a few independent-minded citizens were shocked by the swift action of the pro-Aquino congressmen to impeach Corona — which is in stark contrast to the snail-paced treatment given by the same pro-Aquino congressmen on such measures demanded and needed by the public such as the measures for Reproductive Health, Freedom of Information and Nationwide Across-the-Board Minimum Wage Increases.

President Aquino, who has set for himself a very high moral standard, has much to explain and to account for for bringing the country to this political crisis. Indeed, what is there for Corona to stonewall or sabotage when the Aquino administration wasted more than 500 days in office by failing to file plunder, human rights violations and other charges against Arroyo. Things came to a head when Arroyo appeared to be trying to flee the country — it was only then that the Aquino administration filed charges against Arroyo, using the weakest charges of electoral sabotage, to obtain an arrest warrant.

Aquino’s apologists might venture to explain this away by claiming that the President has much to do and Arroyo’s prosecution is just one of them. That, of course, is baloney. It was Aquino himself who promised to hold Arroyo accountable and the impression he made to the public was that it would be speedy too.

oOo

Methinks, President Aquino owes the public a complete explanation on the status of the court cases filed by the government against Arroyo and her cabal, as well as the status of the charges filed by citizens that remain pending in the Department of Justice and the Office of the Ombudsman.

Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Benigno Aquino III

Aquino has not done enough to hold Arroyo accountable as he had loudly promised in the 2010 campaign. Pic: AP.

Media, including the Inquirer and Rappler, should be able to check on these too (and balance their lopsided anti-Corona, pro-Aquino coverage) empower the public to take positions and make decisions that would make Aquino be true to his many high-standard campaign promises.

oOo

Remember the Freedom of Information Bill? President Aquino promised to make this a priority legislation but it has not been enacted into law due to his own administration’s objections.

Had the FOI Bill been made into law within the first six months of his presidency, the measure would have helped keep the public motivated to carry on the crusade for good governance, aided investigation and prosecution efforts against Arroyo et al, and provided legal basis for House prosecutors in the Corona impeachment trial to obtain government documents pertaining to the chief justice.

oOo

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the ultimate and quintessential politico, hit the nail in the head in his remarks during the opening of the Senate impeachment trial against Corona. He said the trial is no easy task for the Senate as it touches not just on constitutional accountability but may also affect the constitutional concepts of checks and balances, and co-equal status of the three branches of government.

Let’s see how the Senate does its work and whether we would get our money’s worth.