Aquino responsible for prosecution’s blunders – KMU

“We blame no other than the president.”

This was labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno’s reaction to the sudden announcement of the prosecution panel in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona that it is resting its case amidst widespread perception that it messed up in the task of laying the basis for Corona’s conviction by the court.

The prosecution panel scrapped five out of the eight articles of impeachment which it had initially submitted to the impeachment trial, preempting the possible testimony of a key witness, Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, before the court.

“It is now clear that the prosecution panel, under the direction of Pres. Aquino, has failed miserably to do its homework. It is also now clear that the president opted to wage a propaganda campaign against Corona in the hope that he would be forced to resign, instead of ensuring that he would be impeached,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.

“The original sin is the blitzkrieg fashion in which the impeachment complaint was crafted and passed under the president’s orders. The result was a poorly-prepared complaint the weakness of which the Aquino government tried to hide with propaganda hype,” he added.

“We supported the impeachment complaint against Corona in the hope that an obstacle to the prosecution of former Pres. Arroyo would be removed. We are deeply disappointed with the prosecution’s performance,” Labog said.

Real motive

KMU said that Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s haste to remove Corona and control the Supreme Court stems from his desire to get back at Corona for the SC’s decision on the Hacienda Luisita case, which ordered that the hacienda’s lands be distributed to farmers.

“The impeachment complaint clearly suffered because of the president’s haste to remove Corona in order to reverse the SC’s decision on Hacienda Luisita. A more noble motive, such as going after Arroyo, would have meant creating a solid complaint even if it would take more time,” Labog said.

“Pres. Aquino’s motive of overturning the Supreme Court decision on Hacienda Luisita was exposed by the special treatment which his government gave to Arroyo in prison, and his Ombudsman’s decision to downgrade the plunder cases against Arroyo to mere graft cases,” he added.

“The people’s interest of impeaching Corona so the government can go after Arroyo has been undermined by the president’s selfish motives,” he said.