On Corona's Crown and His Claim of Being Democracy Incarnate

13th December 2011

Post with 12 notes

On Corona’s Crown and His Claim of Being Democracy Incarnate

A friend of mine from law school feels alarmed that the articles of impeachment against Chief Justice Corona has passed the Lower House and effectively igniting the machinery of Impeachment next year. She feels that the dignity of the Judiciary is being assailed since apparently Corona ‘embodies the justice system in the land’ which I find curious. I find it curious because apparently it insinuates that being a Chief Justice protects you from the only legal cudgel that can touch you, namely the impeachment process.

Of course she tells us that the Lower House reduced it to mere number games, or that they are answering a rally call from President Aquino, or that they ‘rail-roaded’ it, or that there were backroom deals that would make the Illuminati blush. Heck, when we do a quick brush on every comments section from Facebook walls to online news articles we also see this same thrust among our Citizens, the same impression on what has transpired, namely when 188 Representatives followed the procedures that our Constitution has laid herself these same Representatives also have betrayed our ‘Democracy’, whatever that means in our political temperament.

That line of thinking then forces us to ask: If following the procedures laid by the Constitution becomes a betrayal of democracy what then qualifies being faithful to Democracy?

For starters, I find it amusing that we are judging the intentions of the accusers in an impeachment case since it is very well immaterial at this point, if anything supporting the accusation to be elevated into a hearing against a public official by your representative is being faithful to the public trust you have invested into him. Especially if the complaints are valid and serious. Again, I think thinking that these Representatives are and motivated by this or that becomes immaterial since the important question becomes if these same accusers would see their accusations through. They say they would, and they say they have evidence to back them up. You see what the Lower House has done is just raise a platform, initiate a case, so we could legally scrutinize the dignity of Corona under the only valid avenue that the Law of the Land allows, namely the Impeachment Process. If anything, your representative have worked for you unlike how it has worked against you everytime someone filed an impeachment case against PGMA.

Of course Corona can and should defend himself against these accusations, moreso in the Upper House, present counter-interpretations, heck even question the validity of the evidences and of course we always should assume his innocence throughout. However, it is funny that most of us think that assumption of innocence means that one cannot question this assumption of innocence by filing a case. If there is doubt on his innocence then by all means we should bring him under the scrutiny of the impeachment process. And your Representative, by seeing a tinge of doubt (and reading the articles of Impeachment it is anything but a tinge) it favors that the case of Corona should elevate from mere gossips and hear-say into the certainty of the Law.

Now, as far as my legal know-how does not betray me, I think he has a fighting chance against let us say the questioning of the decisions of the SC by virtue of it being the final arbiter of the land, provided their decisions are done in the dignity of their office. However, as far as my memory serves me CJ Corona has done a couple of blunders betraying his office. Remember how Corona created an ethics committee to exonerate an allege member from plagiarism despite an Impeachment process in the Congress should have done it?

You see this is what makes the Impeachment process a valid, sound, and dignified avenue to convict ~~beyond reasonable doubt~~ an official or for this same official to maintain his innocence after confronting every accusation. If anything the Impeachment is one of the best manifestation of the separation of powers and our Republic’s inherent checks and balances. The Constitution provides then in the Impeachment process legal cudgels to beat an erring official that misuses his office and at the same time it provides legal shields for innocent officials to exonerate himself in public and consequently shaming his accusers and revealing their true colors. If anything, an innocent Corona after the Impeachment process could very well be downfall of Aquino. So one has to wonder why would Corona and his sympathizers detest this scenario?

You see if Corona worked in the clearest of conscience and faithful to his mandate he would face these accusations in the Upper House, revealing its tastelessness and malice, and in the process reveal the inanity of the Aquino Administration. Alas, he becomes poppier than the pope that he becomes frustrated with a procedural and legitimate process in the Lower House to bring him under scrutiny and sees this legitimate move towards a hearing becomes an act that would ‘destroy democracy’. Of course, if my reading-between-the-lines skills does not betray me, he apparently fancies himself to be democracy incarnate and ironically ceases to be the supreme interpreter of the law but an entity above the law.

It is just a shame that many of us cringe at due process and consequently get irritated that our representative tried to stop Corona from pissing on our face from above.

Tagged: Corona legal opinion Democracy is reasonable discourse not blabber and non sequitur impeachment

Theories of a Brown Monkey

On Corona’s Crown and His Claim of Being Democracy Incarnate