A BEWILDERED PEEK ON CJ CORONA'S IMPEACHMENT

In the days leading to January 16, 2012, the start of the Senate proceedings on the historical impeachment of a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the pages of newspapers and the airwaves of the radio and television were overwhelmed by the pros and cons anent the various ramifications inherent in this democratic exercise. To this non-lawyer bystander, I could not help being immensely confused at the pompous and overly legalistic posturings of the Corona camp. I find it difficult to accept that many reputable lawyers have chosen to defend the cause of SC CJ Corona based on their contention that the independence of the Supreme Court and the judiciary is imperilled by the impeachment initiated by the House of the Representatives at the behest of the executive.

This Blogger strongly believes that the Supreme Court's independence and integrity have been compromised by CJ Corona when he accepted his midnight appointment by the outgoing President Arroyo in blatant violation of the constitutional prohibition on such appointments. Even its ratification by the eight SC appointees of the outgoing president, to this non-lawyer, will never correct the inherent constitutional infirmity but, instead confirm public perception that the CJ Corona-led Supreme Court intends to protect the interests of the Arroyos.

THE PHILIPPINES ON ANTEDILUVIAN CROSSROADS - REVISITED, Part One

The unprecedented widespread destruction of cataclysmic proportion wrought by Tropical Storm SENDONG (international name WASHI) in Mindanao, particularly Iligan and Cagayan de Oro, imparted ominous message that the worst is yet to come to the Philippines what with climate change's adverse effects remaining totally unpredictable and causing the most extreme conditions. All along I harbored the notion that Typhoon ONDOY (international name KETSANA) was the most devastating typhoon that ever waylaid the country, of which I was one of the fortunate survivors. Yet, SENDONG, which amount of rainfall was much lesser than ONDOY, precipitated horrendous floods bearing numerous cut logs and debris that swept structures along the path leaving thousands of residents either killed, injured or missing. As such, we, survivors of ONDOY, were more fortunate since the twenty feet depth of the raging floods were mostly water and mud.