THE Senate is enjoying praises from all corners for performing its job well.For their impartiality in hearing the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the senators deserve respect and commendation from the people.

But lately, a senator, who appears to be helping the prosecution in pinning down Corona, is threatening to erode the credibility of the impeachment court. 

Sen. Franklin Drilon drew flak for ‘rescuing’ the Looney Tune characters at the prosecution panel from what could have been another embarrassing day for them during one of the hearing sessions.

Whatever excuse Drilon has, it can no longer remove doubts on his impartiality. There is already public perception that he is taking sides. Therefore, he is no longer worthy to sit as judge for the trial.

If he insists on staying as judge, he would only ruin the renewed public respect and admiration recently earned by the Senate. This would be unfair to the other senators who are doing the right job of staying impartial.

For the sake of the impeachment court and a fair trial, Drilon has to inhibit himself from the hearing. In the name of justice and democracy, Drilon must go.

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The prosecution panel should not take it against the defense panel for making a lot of objections in the hearings. Aside from being sustained by Senate President Juan Ponce, such  objections made by the defense panel do not necessarily delay the trial nor deny the public of the truth. The defense panel only wants to make sure that the law, especially that part where due process comes in, is followed so that the impeachment court can arrive a sound decision for the case.

Are the prosecutors uncomfortable with standard procedures because they did not practice any when they railroaded the impeachment case against Corona at the House of Representatives?

Will there be justice at the end of the trial if we followed the whims of those who have already prejudged the accused to forget the basic principle of the presumption of innocence and go on to convict Corona with haste?

The Senate, may be minus Drilon, doesn’t think so.

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There is no doubt that the government is right in fighting graft and corruption in the country. In fact, this corner supports the campaign.

However, the Last Mohican is watching how the administration of Aquino is doing it. So far, many have been disappointed over the manner of implementing the drive.

They may deny it but US Senators Kelly Ayotte, John McCain, Joseph Lieberman and Sheldon Whitehouse could also have been trying to find out if the steps taken by Aquino in fighting corruption is correct when they visited the country recently.

Such steps by the government resulted in a dismal performance of the economy last year and violation of major human rights of people suspected of  being enemies of the present administration.

That’s not the way other democracies in the world fight corruption.

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Aquino thinks that the controversy involving Ronald Llamas,  the secretary for political affairs who was caught  buying pirated DVDs in Quezon City,  is such a very low issue for a Chief Executive to attend to. 

Thus, the President is not paying any attention to it.

On the other hand, Optical Media Board Chairman Ronnie Rickets is waging war against intellectual piracy and has been risking his life raiding shops that are manufacturing and selling pirated DVDs.

Rickets believes that piracy is killing the local film and recording industry, the one that ushered into fame Aquino’s sister Kris who is said to be responsible why P-Noy is in Malacañang today.   

But most importantly, the OMB chief  understands that the high prevalence of intellectual piracy in the country is putting it in a bad light before the international community and the nation is suffering the consequences in the form of fewer aids from donor countries which could have been very helpful to the economy.

Does this mean that an action star has more depth than the President? Is it a clue that a showbiz personality can be a better leader than an Atenean who is more  inclined to cover up for a shooting buddy than to deal with our country’s economy?

Our nation is not moving forward because Aquino doesn’t know   what issue to attend to. He can’t determine if issues are ‘low or high’ for him.

But right now, the President has something important to take care of. An economist already pointed it out. I won’t say it again.

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