Based on the manner they address each other, the Senate impeachment assembly is composed of honorable men and women.

But a question has cropped up: Isn’t honorable a misnomer based on the manner they treat each other?

It is clear their intention is to dishonor the person they address as “your honor”.

The prosecution team representing the House of Representatives that impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona claims: “the Honorable Chief Justice is a crook and a liar and should be removed from office.”

“Your honors, please, it’s a lie,” defense lawyers tell the senator-judges trying the case. “There is no evidence.”

Politicians also address each other “your honor.” Maybe they deserve the title. We cannot confirm, though, that they coined the saying, “There is honor among thieves.”

Still many people wonder why politicians insist in calling the CJ “your honor” even if they believe he has no honor at all. Is it possible that Corona is really “honorable?” Until the politicians have proved otherwise they have to address him “your honor”.

Politicians accuse Corona of being a liar and a thief, but the thieves watching the trial on national television say: “look who’s talking.”

Coffee-shop philosophers say politicians use the honorific “your honor” knowing that thieves claim ownership to the title. But, the thieves say, politicians are welcome to use the tile because “there is honor among thieves.” 

If we follow the thieves’ line of reasoning, the impeachment trial is the only venue where liars have no qualms of being called “your honor” and politicians sound honest with their lies. They seem intent to prove that honesty is not the best policy. 

As the impeachment trial enters its third week, people mimic the manner that some politicians speak and act during the hearing. 

A jeepney passenger gives his fare to the driver: “Ito pamasahe ko, your honor.

Jeepney driver: “Kulang ito, your honor. “ He has a sign on his dashboard that says: “ Only Judas not pay” and added to it were the words “your honor.” 

Coffee-shop philosophers say big- time and petty thieves and liars, including husbands who cheat on their wives, follow the trial like stakeholders watching a stockholders meeting.

When Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the presiding officer, asked a prosecutor how he came into possession of Corona’s alleged bank records, which defense lawyers said are fake, the thieves and liars watched him closely. He hemmed and hawed and said an unidentified “small lady” passed it to him, but he could not give more details. 

“So, what is your verdict?” coffee- shop habitués asked one man, who admits to being a big liar. “Were you convinced?”

He said: “My seven-year-old son, who is a liar like me, can do better.”

“If it was your son on the witness stand, what would be his answer?” the liar’s growing number of coffee-shop fans press him for an answer.

Children who want to duck a question, the big liar said, have a standard answer when pressed against the wall. They simply say: “Secret.” 

“If we convene our coffee-shop session into an assembly similar to the impeachment trial, what will be your advice?” One coffee-shop patron asked. 

The liar said people should not accept everything that is being said as the truth. “When the answer is no, sometimes it means yes and vice versa. When they say they are telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, it’s a big lie,” he said.   

One distinguished-looking man in Barong Tagalog stood up and admonished the coffee-shop patrons for making fun of a development that has serious implications to our country, our democracy, and way of life. He said the trial is not about politicians and whether they are honorable or not. 

“The Supreme Court as an institution, and some of our cherished values are put into trial. The separation of powers that is important to our democracy and the aura of independence that shrouds the Supreme Court have been shattered,” the man said and stomped out of the coffee shop. 

Everybody was silent. Someone mumbled: “ Yes, your honor.”