"x x x.
Total annihilation
This result brought gloom to the Corona defense panel and triumphalist breast-beating from the administration, which has vowed to “strip naked” Corona in its total annihilation of the Chief Justice and members of his family in the media months ahead of the trial, during which the prosecution monopolized the presentation of evidence against Corona.
Against this background of the heavily lopsided occupation of media space by the administration side and threats of resurrection of people power in the event of an acquittal of Corona, it is understandable why the poll survey showed devastating collateral damage to Corona and the high court, resulting in the imbalance in the public approval for the tribunal vis-à-vis those of the other departments.
The impact of the scorched-earth attack on Corona and the court, abetted by the mass media, did not bring cheer to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, some of whose members with civil liberties leanings have expressed concerns over the erosion of the independence of the judiciary as a result of the attacks by the executive and its legislative allies in the House of Representatives who were shown to have fast-tracked the impeachment articles against Corona to the Senate impeachment court for trial.
Clear winner
The clear winner in the survey was Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and the impeachment court, a redeeming feature of terrorizing and bullying by the executive in the heavy-handed deployment of its coercive powers (such as letting loose the Bureau of Internal Revenue hounds to track down income tax returns of respondents in the impeachment and using Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in the search for money-laundering evidence according to the Anti-Money Laundering Act.
Under this inquisitorial barrage of punitive assaults with powers of the state, how can anyone expect any target of this vindictive campaign to survive unscathed and emerge with flying colors in a popularity poll survey of performance in office?
What has emerged from this total extermination campaign is a mutilated corpse of a human being stripped of his dignity and reputation too gruesome to behold.
The survey found that Enrile topped the poll with a 71-percent approval rating. It came with a warning.
The approval rating of the President’s cohort, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. who engineered the ramming of the impeachment complaint through three hours in the House, dropped to 41 percent from 45 percent from November last year.
x x x."
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