Unsolicited advice to Pnoy – Take the test!
By EFREN L. DANAO
There is only one way for President Benigno S. Aquino 3rd to stop the recurring questions about his mental health—subject himself to a psychiatric examination by an apolitical or politically neutral medical/mental health specialist. Once the exam shows that he has no short attention span, has no vindictive trait, does not dislike criticisms, has no shallow thoughts and is not bipolar, then the issue will be finally put to rest.
It is dangerous for a mentally unstable person to occupy a very high government post. The President could easily and decisively prove he is not such a person by taking the test. But what if he refuses? Then that merely means that he is trying to hide something. Certainly, if he has nothing to hide, then he should willingly undergo psychiatric test.
Hey, it looks like I have it all wrong on who has the burden of proof! I must have been influenced by the President’s line on Chief Justice Renato Corona’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth — if he has nothing to hide, show it.
But even if the President is mentally stable, he gives no assurance of providing due process to his enemies when he said that a Supreme Court without Chief Justice Renato Corona will convict his predecessor, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. He also showed he is unwilling to accept a “not guilty” verdict by the Senate-sitting-as-an-impeachment-court on CJ Corona when he declared that the people should not accept such a ruling by only a few. Now that he has tasted power, he is showing the marks of a dictator. He wants the judiciary and the Senate to decide controversies the way he sees it.
Incidentally, I appeal to some critics of the President to stop calling him BS Aquino. We all know that BS stands for b_ _ l s_ _ t, long before the President came along. Oh well, as The Bard once said, “What’s in a name?” That which we call Benigno Simeon Aquino, by any name like BS Aquino, will still be, oops, never mind.
Prosecutors on OJT turn to whining
The inept prosecutors in the impeachment trial of CJ Corona haveturned to whining after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding judge, ruled not to let Philippine Airlines exec Enrique Javier testify on the PAL Platinum Card given to the jurist and his wife. When JPE lectured them for the nth time not to expand the scope of their Articles of Impeachment, they whimpered that JPE should have followed inter-chamber courtesy.
But of course, the heretofore patient JPE would not have made the prosecutors feel like they were on on-the-job training (OJT) had they been better prepared. If they had gathered their pieces of evidence themselves rather than rely on the impeachment court’s issuance of subpoena and on their allies in the Senate, they would not have resorted to the pathetic pleading of inter-chamber courtesy. They should also remember that the senators and the prosecutors from the House are now wearing different hats at the impeachment trial.
Of course, their allies in the Senate are not always of help. Take for instance when Philippine Savings Bank president Pascual Garcia testified under oath that the bank accounts of CJ Corona were examined by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the Anti-Money Laundering Council in the second half of 2010. Senator-Judge Teofisto Guingona 3rd soon after stood up and said that the two government agencies had denied making such an examination. Huh? So the senator-judge is now also the spokesman of the BSP and AMLC? Fortunately for us, JPE refused to take the word of Guingona since the ones Guingona had talked to were not under oath and could not be cross-examined.
Going back to the prosecutors, they should have taken to heart the advice of Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor Santiago that they should have formed a strategy before appearing in court. It seems they have formed none because when JPE disallowed the testimony of Javier, they had no alternate witnesses to present. They must have been dismayed that their allies in the Senate did not come to their rescue. But then, it is impossible to defend the indefensible.
In fairness to the ill-prepared prosecutors, there is very little they could do to defend the hastily approved eight Articles of Impeachment endorsed by 188 speed readers from the House. The senator-judges had been complaining about their difficulty in making heads or tails of the Articles of Impeachment. It’s no surprise that the prosecutors are now dropping three charges under No. 3 Article of Impeachment.
What’s giving heart to the prosecutors on OJT is the strong support given them by Malacañang and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. The President and the Speaker remain convinced that the prosecutors have already proven their case and that theyhave presented enough evidence to convict CJ Corona. Say, havethey been monitoring another impeachment trial?
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