It is a disappointment when the prosecution team moved to postpone the second day of the impeachment trial because they are not ready to present the evidences related to the first article of impeachment against Chief Justice Renato Corona.

It is a disappointment to see in national television that the prosecution team that seems so determined, at least in media interviews, to pin down the chief justice came unprepared to let the public and the senator-judges convince why Corona should be removed from office because of betrayal of public trust by showing bias for former president Gloria Arroyo.

Let us remember how the Supreme Court hit the Department of Justice when the DOJ questioned the SC’s temporary restraining order on the hold departure order against Mrs. Arroyo. The SC said no case against the former executive was filed yet, thus, the validity of the TRO. Only then the DOJ filed the case against Mrs. Arroyo, et.al and in such a remarkable pace.

The defense team boasts of high-caliber legal counsel lead by a former chief justice himself, Serafin Cuevas. On the other hand, the prosecution is composed of legislators, and some of them are lawyers also. Since the process is both a political and legal proceeding, it is expected that both teams have no room for errors and loopholes in terms of “technicalities” or logic of arguments.

Let us again remember how the first impeachment in the history of the country ended – a walk-out that ignited the EDSA revolution which prompted then president Erap Estrada to leave his post. The legal counsels of Estrada moved not to let the controversial “second envelope” be opened because “it is immaterial to the case.”

Now, the question - “Is the country ready or willing to face another walk-out and nth EDSA revolution because the prosecution is defeated in terms of technicalities!?”

The country and the Filipinos deserve better than unprepared prosecutors.*