It’s becoming clear. The impeachment complaint was filed even though the prosecution did not have hard evidence. The strategy is to get to trial, call witnesses and subpoena documents and go on a fishing expedition that would justify the allegations in the complaint.
Normally, that kind of complaint would have been thrown out. But it was not. When Senator Alan Peter Cayetano stood up to speak today, it became clear why. Speedy calls Cayetano’s statement his “May I have my moment of grandstanding, Your Honor?”
Cayetano elicited from prosecution counsel the rationale for the wording of paragraph 2.4 of the complaint, as follows:
2.4. Respondent is likewise suspected and accused of having accumulated ill-gotten wealth, acquiring assets of high values and keeping bank accounts with huge deposits. It has been reported that Respondent has, among others, a 300-sq. meter apartment in a posh Mega World Property development at the Fort in Taguig. Has he reported this, as he is constitutionally-required under Art. XI, Sec. 17 of the Constitution in his Statement of Assets and Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN)? Is this acquisition sustained and duly supported by his income as a public official? Since his assumption as Associate and subsequently, Chief Justice, has he complied with this duty of public disclosure?
Prosecution knew that there were expensive properties in the name of Corona’s married children, children-in-law and other relatives and relations. Prosecution surmised that these properties were actually Corona’s but the titles were placed in the names of other family members and relations to avoid liability under the Plunder Law. But prosecution couldn’t prove that. Neither did it want to prosecute Corona for plunder; the only objective is to get him out of the Supreme Court under humiliating circumstances.
Ergo, the SALNs were subpoenaed to show that Corona had been less than honest in not declaring the expensive properties and had, therefore, betrayed the public trust.
Think of it as putting the cart before the horse — the conclusion was that Corona lied in his SALNs but prosecution didn’t have proof when the complaint was drafted and signed because, at that time, they hadn’t even seen his SALNs.
Cayetano’s point was that with the SALNs having made public, the vague wording of the complaint (“suspected and accused”) has been justified. I don’t know why Cayetano acted like it was his role to try to convince everyone that the vague wording of the complaint was quite alright. But more on that later.
But the problem remains — how to prove that the properties in the names of the Corona children et al. are, in truth, Corona’s and bought with ill-gotten wealth.
There are opinions that this trial is really over. The Senate which has always been politically divided (pro- and anti-Noynoy administration) did not suddenly become neutral just because it is now an impeachment court. The uniform purple robes of the senators do not make them of the same mind. They are who they are.
It then boils down to numbers. In the end, will there be more pro-Noynoy than anti-Noynoy? We have to consider that in extraordinary circumstances like this, political realignments happen. The left-leaning members of the Lower House, for instance, traditionally antagonistic toward the administration, have obviously aligned themselves with the administration lawmakers because they now share the same objective — eliminate Corona as a first step toward going after Gloria Arroyo.
Yes, that is what this is. When the administration went after Gloria Arroyo, Corona’s sin was the issuance of a TRO that barred the Justice Department from preventing La Gloria to leave the country. The Luisita decision was only incidental because Corona’s role in it was only instrumental. The move to take Luisita from the Cojuangcos? Those wheels were set in motion by La Gloria. Gloria Arroyo has always been the prize catch.
So, why bother with Corona? Look at it this way. How do you think the rest of the Supreme Court justices feel right now? If their chief can be impeached for allegedly trying to protect La Gloria and, in the process, having his private life AND FINANCES divulged for all the world to see, would they really take on a hardline stand in continuing to favor La Gloria?
It’s a psy-war, after all. It always is in politics. In this case, the strategy is to intimidate and conquer.
Still and all, none of that means that Corona is innocent or guilty.
He may be innocent. His adult children and their spouses are not without financial means and they may have bought those properties themselves. Same with the “balaes” and the “bilas”.
It is also possible that he is guilty. Lawyers are well-versed in the ins and outs of hiding properties.
But that’s not really the point of this trial. This is about instilling fear in the Supreme Court so that the remaining Gloria Arroyo appointees there will know next time how to vote in cases that involve La Gloria and anything that he touched which may or may not include Luisita.
