"x x x.
These scraps of political gossip—not unlike the astonishing fragments of human experience Revilla curates for a mass audience every week—are supposed to speak for themselves. Maybe the bizarre requires no elaboration to elicit awe or shock. But what meanings are we supposed to draw from the “Boy Pickup” episode in which he ridicules Secretary Mar Roxas for personally driving him to his appointment with the President in Malacañang? Are we supposed to take this as indicative of a clandestine and orchestrated effort led by P-Noy to get enough votes to ensure the conviction of then Chief Justice Renato Corona?
But, isn’t it common knowledge that P-Noy had long wanted Corona out of the Supreme Court, given the sneaky circumstances behind his appointment as chief justice and his manifest bias against President Aquino? There was nothing extraordinary or improper about the President seeking to influence the outcome of Corona’s impeachment trial. It would be a different matter if a bribe was being offered in exchange. While it takes on the trappings of a court proceeding, the impeachment process itself is regarded as primarily a political function, which is why it is the legislature rather than the judiciary that performs it.
Indeed, the legislature and its organs—e.g., the impeachment court—are supposed to be autonomous, meaning they are expected to use their own code and criteria in arriving at decisions. But that is a burden that falls squarely on the shoulders of the senator-judges themselves. If Revilla had felt at any point during his meeting with President Aquino that he was being bribed or pressured to vote for or against Corona’s conviction, it was his duty to denounce this in public. That he did not do so while the impeachment court was in session makes him an accessory to the conspiracy he now complains about. That he is doing so now, after plunder charges have been filed against him, makes him sound like a gossipmonger who tries to project an air of innocence by smearing everyone else around him. No reasonable person can seriously assign any value to his speech.
x x x."
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