When pundits billed the appearance of both Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales and Chief Justice Renato Corona in the latter's impeachment trial in the Senate as a clash of the titans, they certainly were correct. So far, Carpio-Morales' testimony has been more important than any evidence presented by the prosecution in the long months that it sought to prove that Corona should be removed from his post.

In a surprise move, Carpio-Morales took the stand at the resumption of Senate trial yesterday. The courage shown by the Ombudsman was not displayed by three of the other witnesses summoned by the Senate impeachment court on the behest of the lawyers of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona and on whose charges the Ombudsman's action to investigate Corona was originally based.

The Ombudsman testified that her decision to investigate Corona on his alleged ownership of $10 million stashed in local banks may have been initiated by three separate complaints filed before her office. But Carpio-Morales, President Noynoy Aquino's choice for Ombudsman, declared before the court that the source of her allegations was the Anti-Money Laundering Council, whose help she sought when she started looking into charges that the chief justice had amassed.

The Ombudsman also told the court that her job as chief government anti-corruption investigator allowed her to seek the cooperation of any state agency in her quest to find grounds to file charges against any official. AMLAC, which monitors bank transactions to ferret out possible instances of the amassing of hidden wealth, seemed like a logical place to start looking.

The AMLAC reports – there are apparently two, one being a summarized version of a longer, more detailed document – now apparently forms the most serious basis so far for alleging that Corona acquired ill-gotten wealth and the strongest grounds yet uncovered to convict him. It appears also that the Aquino administration, through the Ombudsman, has finally found a way to go around a Supreme Court ruling that the privacy of anyone's foreign currency deposits may not be disclosed without the consent of the account owner.

Carpio-Morales has also quite frankly admitted that if the AMLAC reports will not be used as a basis for trying Corona in the current impeachment proceedings, they can certainly be used in future ones. Under questioning by lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas, the Ombudsman intimated that the AMLAC findings could be used in a new impeachment trial against Corona "in December."

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Indeed, the battle for the fate of Corona will ultimately boil down to Carpio-Morales' allegations and the chief justice's defense against them in his own much-awaited testimony. Forget about all the previous charges made since the beginning of the year by the House prosecution, which bungled every one of them; the face-off between Corona and his former colleague in the high court who swore Aquino into office (ably supported by the entire administration and its sympathizers in the Senate, media and elsewhere) will be the equivalent of thermonuclear war in the impeachment court.

The deployment of the Ombudsman in the campaign to convict Corona, after all, is an appropriate response to the decision of the Corona-led Supreme Court to take away Hacienda Luisita from Aquino and his family – the must hurtful blow inflicted by the chief justice so far on his Tormentor-in-Chief. It is the surest sign that the gloves have really come off in the impeachment trial and that, from hereon, there will be no quarters asked or given – and that the end is finally at hand.

Of course, as we keep hearing from the Senate, the lawmakers who make up the court will be the ones who will decide whether Corona walks or whether he is convicted. From the time Carpio-Morales takes the stand to the end of Corona's testimony, it will probably become abundantly clear how the vote will go even before the first one is cast.

Outside of the impeachment court, it will be reasonable to expect the final escalation of the propaganda efforts that have already become as inescapably a part of the trial as the announcements of the Senate's sergeant-at-arms. And we shall finally see if all the "deliverables" promised during hush-hush meetings where deals were offered and cut will tilt the balance either way.

Clearly, Aquino retains his long-held advantage going into what many believe is the final chapter of the trial. The administration not only has all the resources to persuade the senators to hand down a conviction; the removal of Corona is also understandably so important to Aquino that he will do everything to secure it.

After all, Corona is only fighting for his own reputation and survival. Aquino, on the other hand, is seeking to avoid embarrassing his entire administration – which expended so much time, money and effort in the campaign – and making himself an irrelevant lame duck for the rest of his term.

Like any good telenovela, the Corona impeachment trial promises to end with a great big bang. And we will not have to wait very long for the ending.

The Ombudsman has started to do what the House-led prosecution has failed to deliver. Soon, it will be Corona himself who will have to take the stand, bringing an end to the greatest political drama under this administration, so far.*