i am neither anti- nor pro-corona. if he’s convicted, fine. if he’s acquitted, fine. i didn’t like him from the moment he accepted the midnight appointment, but that’s not a high crime, ‘no?
nothing will change, anyway, if corona is removed, except that whoever replaces him will be beholden to the president and his cohorts and not to gma. and of course there’s the hacienda luisita ruling of the corona court; the cojuangcos would have a good chance of getting the whopping 10B in compensation they want that justice sereno recommends instead of 800M-something lang. and yes, gma’s goose would be cooked, no matter how weak the evidence of election sabotage against her.
nothing will change either if corona’s not removed, except maybe he’ll inhibit or try very hard from then on to be impartial vis a vis gma cases lest he get impeached again next year. and that, inhibiting and/or judiciously working at impartiality, would not be a bad thing.
so i am prepared to accept the verdict of the senate impeachment court. i like it that presiding judge enrile, while bending backward to accommodate an ill-prepared complaint and prosecution, has drawn the line at subpoenaing members of the supreme court and challenging judicial privilege. while there is much that needs reforming in the judiciary, weakening the institution and rendering it vulnerable/subject to the whims and caprices of the executive and legislative branches that are already too too too powerful would be disastrous for the country in the short-term and in the long run.
of course, there is every possibility that in the end, even if the corona camp were able to mount a credible defense, that the senator-judges would vote still according to their individual political agendas, usually connected to whoever’s in the palace. pero kanya-kanya nang perception yan, and kanya-kanya ring diskarte, to vote or not to vote for them or their sons / daughters / spouses / siblings, in the next elections.
having said all that, in the spirit of disclosure, here’s my take on senator-judge miriam’s latest lecture that had vitaliano aguirre playing the fool.
i simply cannot find it in my value system to denigrate, condemn, or even criticize senator-judge miriam defensor santiago — as many many anti-corona peeps in social media are doing, waging a hate-miriam campaign, complete with down-dirty cussing ang isa — for lecturing the prosecution and using the words “gago” and “kagaguhan” to characterize how the prosecution has been handling the impeachment case.
neither can i find it in my value system to declare volunteer private prosecutor vitaliano aguirre a hero — as many of these anti-corona peeps are doing, complete with we-are-behind-you graphics – for daring to cover his ears during miriam’s lecture, and when called out, instead of apologizing (as his fellow prosecutors urged), daring to express in no uncertain terms, his contempt for the senator-judge, so to speak, for stridently lecturing the prosecution.
to me it’s clear that these hate-miriam love-aguirre people would be cheering miriam if miriam had been scolding the defense, and they would be angry instead with aguirre for covering his ears if he had been part of that defense. to me it’s obvious that anti-corona anti-gma peeps are being unreasonable, i suspect out of a real if unspoken fear that corona might be acquitted, either because they have a stake in his conviction or because they have already judged him guilty, like the palace and their favorite media have.
miriam had reason, every time, to lecture the prosecution. again and again she was provoked by the prosecution’s ineptness and panggagago. whether or not we like her demeanor or her voice or her language or her scolding style, the prosecution deserved the scolding, every time.
this last, she was scolding the prosecution for dropping five of eight impeachment articles, and they had it coming to them. to me they were like schoolboys who enrolled in 8 units but “dropped” (that’s the word tupaz used) 5 units kaysa ma-singko, kaysa bumagsak, dahil kulang sa requirements, and then had the gall to cover their ears when scolded by their elders. kagaguhan indeed.
and no, gago does not mean “stupid.” “tanga” is the equivalent of “stupid,” and there’s nothing stupid about the prosecutors. in fact, it takes smarts, craftiness, guile, to be gago, that is, to break rules and brazenly try to get away with it — yan ang panggagago: iniisahan tayo, ginagawa tayong tanga, akala makakalusot sila. kagaguhan is largely what the prosecution has been up to from the start, railroading, practically overnight, a badly crafted complaint that 188 signatory-reps didn’t even have time to read, and for which they had no evidence.
malaking kagaguhan din ang ginawa ni aguirre. he was being gago, impertinent, pa-defiant, when he covered his ears in an insolent ploy to attract attention to himself and away from the senator-judge’s lecture. in any courtroom, especially this one where the fate of a supreme court chief justice is being decided, it is kagaguhan for a prosecutor to consider himself equal to a judge. the stakes must be so high, he was willing to play the audacious anti-hero, resort to dirty tricks to distract the public from the painful truths that miriam has been revealing about the prosecution.
so really, this front page item on the inquirer quoting cory’s spiritual adviser, that Miriam is ‘worthy of the fires of hell’? for speaking the truth? what the hell! then that goes for me, too.
*
No Plan B to fall on by Solita Collas-Monsod
The inane, the insane, the profane Manila Standard Today Editorial
Your Honors… by Alex Magno
The Aquino-LP agenda by Carol Pagaduan-Araullo
haha. im with you on this one. succinctly s
haha. im with you on this one. very nicely said
i find miriam too showoffy though
resty! i love it that we agree on this, showoffy, showbizzy even, and all :)
Winnie Monsod wrote:
I didn’t but I remembered this…
pcij.org/blog/2006/04/27/arroyo-pollster-commissioned-sws-to-test-political-messages#comment-24571
Laylo misled us before.
Senator Miriam seems to be aiding the INC. She is obviously pro Corona. There are so many scenarios going on in this trial and I totally agree with the Trapo Senator Maceda that 2013 elections plays an important role with the judgment of the senators. What could be the reason on why the INC is supporting Corona? What could be their benefit to the chief magistrate? This satanic cult is really up to something. They want to control almost every agency in the gov’t. They have placed Gatdula in NBI which was sacked by the DOJ then they have their people in MTRCB. Some chief of police in certain cities are also backed by them. They really want to rule the country. They even have their hands on necks of certain politicians. Now Pnoy was also an ally of this satanic cult until they became foes because of their different agendas. Pnoy wants Corona out because of two things. One is the Hacienda Luisita ruling where he wants his Cojuangco family to get the maximum compensation for their farm. The other is putting Gloria to jail which will not happen if Corona is the Chief Justice, two birds in one stone for Pnoy. We just don’t know what is the plan of INC behind its support of Corona. There must be something. This satanic cult won’t be wasting its time on someone that is no use for them. By the way, the other trapo Senator Enrile reminds me of con men. He is such a smart old man that he gets whatever he wants from a politician and then throws him or her away after getting his benefit. Remember what he did with Marcos then with Erap and now with Gloria then he went back again to Erap when Gloria’s name was blemished already. He just wants power. He should not be voted anymore. I don’t know why the hell he keeps on winning. He changes faster than the weather. These people don’t deserve the power they have.
what is more panggagago was when the defense claimed that malacañang bribed the senator-judges to the tune of P100 million each without showing any evidence to prove their nasty allegation. basta paniwalaan lang daw sila. isn’t that panggagago–not only to the impeachment court but to the public as well? now, what did miriam do to this panggagago of the defense? nothing. talk about gaga.
and what about the prez claiming a military coup in the making…
I don’t like it when people pretend they live in a bubble of decency in a country that handles news massacres with laughter. People get berated and insulted every day. There are people who would berate you then simply have you killed a few days later to make sure you don’t get any ideas to get back at him.
They accuse her for lacking humility, but who is really humble in this country. Face it, if we do not comprehend the true nature of democracy (this is a state of law wherein some low-life nincompoop can embarrass you or put you in jail or some uneducated, shirtless bastard can put down a well-dressed, well-respected intellectual) then we don’t really know what good behavior is–behavior for all dictated by a common set of rules.
“while there is much that needs reforming in the judiciary, weakening the institution and rendering it vulnerable/subject to the whims and caprices of the executive and legislative branches that are already too too too powerful would be disastrous for the country in the short-term and in the long run.”
Do you believe that GMA left a strong institution, that she appointed justices who would be impartial and fiercely independent of her whims and caprices?
no, but i’m not convinced that replacing just corona would change anything significantly.
Who are the others that you want to see replaced/removed from office?
hmm. i was thinking more along the lines of having appointed justices go thru comm. on appointments with televised grilling, so we know if theyre capable of impartiality or not. but yeah, with this batch sitting na, paano na. i suppose pag naconvict si corona, the other pro-gma justices will be more careful lest they be impeached too. and the same would go for carpio and sereno and other perceived pro-aquino justices. “work at impartiality” dapat ang mantra nilang lahat.
I think they should televise the JBC hearings kasi we will have to amend the constitution kung ibabalik sa CA ang confirmation ng justices.
I’m not sure about Sereno pero Carpio is no angel.
But yeah televise JBC hearings so that they don’t simply ignore letters like the one that cristina corona’s uncle wrote to them opposing corona’s appointment.
Ang mga sinasabi ni Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor, para sa akin ay hindi magandang pakinggan. Siya ay walang respeto kay Atty. Vitaliano Aguirre or sa prosecution. Ang ugaling kanyang ipinapakita ay hindi talaga magandang pakinggan. Ang kanyang ginagawa kung ikaw ay taong normal natural lamang na takpan na lamang ang iyong tainga kay sa masampal mo si Mirriam. Kahit saan o kailan marinig mong laging galit, at bakit naman ang sambayanang Pilipino pumipili sa kanya bilang senador. Matalino nga pero hindi naman nirerespeto ang iyong pagkatao. Hindi ba puwede na magkomento siya sa isang tao na hindi galit. Masama pa ngang mga salita na binibitiwan niya nagagalit pa, anong mapupulot na magandang kaugalian ang ating mga kabataan na nakikining sa trial. Lahat ng tao pagtingin niya lahat tanga. Ang mga taong iyan ay mga congresista, mga abogado rin kagaya sa iyo, pero kung makapanglait ka para lang silang mga batang musmos. Zero ka Miriam sa akin.