STANDPOINT

By Danny Alcoriza

US properties expose signals Coronas downfall

The skirmishes of legal debate over the month on the impeachment trial Chief Justice Renato Coronas may just have entertained the people. Amidst harsh discourses of protagonist and antagonist, the public has hardly been moved to react that will lead a mass repulsion over expose of corruption in the judiciary. Instead, the proceedings have made the public large spectators of an open impeachment theatre. The audience, right there in the Senate court floor, is viewing a phony stage show. Even then mixed emotions abound. There are those who are annoyed, those whore getting angry, those who are amused, and those who had suppressed laughter. These are all due to the shrewdness and idiocy of the defense, the rawness and navet of the prosecution, and the grandstanding pretentions of the jury. Senator-Judge Merriam (Santiago) even enjoyed scolding prosecutors to show her raging antics. Beware not to outshine the senator-judge. If she felt she is being smack out by the prosecutions polemics or the defense alibis, she would thrust herself in berating everyone, that only she can scream out in the court room because she believes she is the brightest of them all. For her, all of them are gago. For more than a month, the impeachment rumble didnt excite the people. It only made people disappointed and even frustrated over their hopes in attaining real justice. People start to realize that political-legal wrangle cannot offer meaningful solution to the endemic corruption in the judiciary, much so to the entire state bureaucracy. Coronas defense is invincible. It is in fact within and without, inside and outside the senate-circle cum jury. This impeachment court drama only portrays the extent of the clash among the ruling elites. It is the arena of their intra-class conflict to rule the reign of power in the government, thus amass wealth by raiding off governments coffers by whoever wins. CJ Coronas protection of the former president against a possible tsunami of charges had cost him to be indicted for the crimes his patron was supposed to answer. Filing of impeachment charges against CJ Corona or supposed to his benefactor didnt come from the real intent of our people to prosecute and attain justice, but from those whod want to get even on the infringement by Corona over their vested interests. Perhaps, some of them indeed are anti- GMA but not necessarily anti-Corona, who sees Corona only as an easy target not really to ultimately extract justice from GMA for her malfeasance but to gain public relation mileage. There are also those who really would want only to get rid of Corona but not necessarily antiGMA, whose interest was threatened by Corona for his biased-, reckless if not dubious court decisions. With recent developments in the impeachment trial, the people now could no longer expect of a sound resolution but an extended hilarious diversion from the real intent of our peoples call for justice. But, there seem an increase yet graduated pressures coming from somewhere for CJ Corona. The expose on his supposed properties in the US including his familys back-passing involvement on real property ownership, and the decline of Coronas approval rating shown by the Social Weather Station survey, are indication of some silent machination towards the Chief Justice downfall. This manipulation can be a handiwork of US psy-ops whose agenda is to give way to the changing of the guard in the Highest Court. The plot is to eventually get rid of Corona for the P-Noy administration to get back in the work track. Besides, the US may have been bored on the impeachment hullaballoo. The US wants the Philippine government to refocus now and keep going on its avowed agenda in serving US interests. A number of these agenda are crucial for the US. These are: the pending move for charter change, the review of the Visiting Forces Agreement, and the US-instigated key role of the Philippines in neutralizing the advances of China and North Korea against the US. It is becoming obvious that early resolution of the impeachment trial will now be favorable to attending US interests in the Philippines.###