commentary Enrile is a class of his own
Enrile is a class of his own
Monday, 30 January 2012 00:00
AT this point in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the one and only undisputed leader is the Senate President and Chair of the Impeachment Court, Juan Ponce Enrile. This is so because the good Senator-Judge Enrile is a class of his own. With due indulgence to all the other senator-judges, only the good Senator-Judge Enrile has the discipline, expertise, talent, statesmanship and patriotism as envisioned by the framers of the 1987 Constitution as far as impeachment trial is concerned. Needless to stress, for lack of space and time, Senator-Judge Enrile has, to his credit, the discipline of a superb statesman, the long and outstanding experience of being a senator, Senate President, Secretary of Defense from the start of the unlamented martial law and until the birth of the People Power which he co-fathered with former President Fidel Ramos, bartopnotcher and litigation lawyer for a long and successful years in our courts of law, to name but a few of his exceptional and colorful public life.
It is my humble take that the present impeachment court will collapse, without any scintilla of doubt, should, God forbid, the good Senator-Judge Enrile be replaced by whatever seen or unforeseen circumstance. At this time, I dare say without any fear of whatever, Senator-Judge Enrile is indispensable! Period! Be that as it may, Senator-Judge Enrile is just like all the other senator-judges as well as you and I - a mere mortal subject to all the imperfections of any human being. This being so, it behooves upon the Sovereign Filipino People to continually pray that Senator-Judge Enrile be generously showered by the Almighty with all the necessary strengths, health and guidance to safely pilot the impeachment trial to its ultimate destination, weathering all forms of storms along the rough seas, where the impeachment trial may cruise.
We should not forget even for a moment that no matter how outstanding Senator-Judge Enrile is in conducting the impeachment trial, storms of whatever nature and kind will come. Hence, it is for this reason that we, the sovereign Filipino people, have the duty and the obligation to actively participate in this trial even if only in the sidelines, poverty and hunger in the stomach notwithstanding. Otherwise, evil forces would have the salivating opportunity to derail this unique and untried constitutional process. This is untried because, we have never ever tried by impeachment a Chief Justice since the birth of our Republic. And precisely because we, lawyers, have hang-ups on the Rules of Court, I implore all the other Filipinos, who equally love our country, if not more, to stand up and give notice to the world that since the Impeachment court is mandated to promulgate its own rules, the Rules of Court is merely suppletory and should never stand in the way of the truth. Once again, technical rules of evidence have no place in any and all impeachment trials. "The Congress shall promulgate its rules on Impeachment to effectively carry out the purpose of this Section." (Section 8, Art.XI)
by Butch Bagabuyo
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