What’s in a robe?
Not loose-fitting enough to go with pearls and lay around on?
Does the fabric give them the itch or stick to skin sores? Ouch!
Or maybe they just want Armani to design if for them?
The answer is none of the above. Some senator-judges just – get this — weren’t “happy” with the old, red robes and requested for new ones that “are comfortable” to wear.
We never thought the color, texture or design of raiment would impact that much on senators’ sound judgment when the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Reanato Corona begins.
How else to explain the casual way with which the senator-judges dumped the unused scarlet robes meant for the botched impeachment trial of resigned Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez?
After all the gowns, each costing around P3,000 to P4,000, were patterned after the judicial robes worn by members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
But this did not stop the senator-judges from insisting that they wear newly designed robes when Corona’s impeachment trial formally begins on Monday next week.
From fiery red, the color has been changed to maroon. The senators wore the red robes only once when the impeachment court formally convened last December.
We don’t get it. Why the particular color” Is there a preponderance of senator-lawyers from the University of the Philippines? And would Corona wear an Ateneo blue when he appears before them?
Impeachment Court spokesperson Valentina Cruz said the senators-judges requested for new robes because “some of them didn’t like the old robes”.
“So new robes have been ordered for them,” Cruz was quoted by a major broadsheet as unabashedly saying during a press briefing.
Asked why the senators did not like the red robes, the she said: “I think not everybody was happy with the original robes given to them.”
Cruz also said the new robes are made a “different material” and that the “design is similar but not exactly the same,” adding that the new robes would be ready by Saturday or two days before the start of the trial.
She was quick to point out that the budget for the new robes didn’t cost much. “I think the expense is not very much—minimal only.” Yeah, sure.
Besides, she insisted, the senators have expressed their intention to always wear the robes during the trial.
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