Another miscalculation #CJonTrial

Youtube video published on May 22, 2012 by timmy Mive

It really seemed that CJ was gaining momentum. Public sympathy started to sway in his favor. At one time he was nakakaawa. He claimed he lived a simple life. They had no luxuries, not even an aircon, nor a katulong. Then he became accusing, threatening, maligning others even. JPE allowed this, wala ngang bastusan eh.

It looked he was on the way to acquittal in the public's eye. He dramatically signed a waiver. But curiously, as he read it, he apparently did not include a waiver of RA 6426. It did not escape the ever sharp JPE. The CJ had to say he's adding it in his own handwriting. Though he later said it's already there, one wonders why he did not read it.

When the defense later said that they did not know the contents of CJ's presentation, why did they have blank copies of the waiver to distribute to the congressmen after the CJ mentioned his conditions? Like his school medals, the waiver was fake.

If the CJ lives simply, why did he check in at a suite in Medical City? Mahal dun ah?

The walk out was premeditated, it was not hypoglycemia. The video above shows his wife has stood up and was waiting for him after he said 'the Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines wishes to be excused.' Was he sick? He did not look like it. In fact he was arrogant.

Did the defense know about the walk out? Cuevas was starting to make the manifestation that the CJ has testified for so long and maybe a continuance is in order. But the CJ was too afraid to be cross-examined that he immediately walked out. It was another miscalculation. Cuevas can be heard saying 'akala na discharge na. tawagin mo'.

The daughter, however, did not appear to know the script. She was still on her seat when her parents walked out. The CJ and his wife was already in the basement, not in the lounge, when JPE ordered all exits closed.

What if CJ feigned fainting right there on the witness stand? That would have been most dramatic worthy of an acquittal. Pero matalino ang Diyos. The hypoglycemia excuse was an after thought.

It would have been better had the Senate doors were closed too late. The CJ would have escaped, nabastos ang Senate and the game is over.

Do they think we are stupid enough not to notice the lies?

This impeachment case brings us enough material for different genres of TV series. In the previous weeks we had comedy, drama, and now, fodder for Dr. Cal Lightman (Lie to Me) and Dr. House (House,MD). Lies. Everybody lies.

Of course, it started when the Chief Justice was impeached for lying in his SALN among other things. Now they want to perpetuate the lies by presenting a witness whose age is enough reason for Ninoy killers to get executive clemency. Perhaps they thought that the system will not incarcerate a 70 year old for perjury. Or perhaps they know we cannot retrieve checks paid out more than 20 years ago.

Senator Vilma Santos revealed how he would vote when he said the witness was credible. We know how Miriam would vote too when she swooned over the anime-hairdo of another witness. Wah?!

The septuagenarian who claims to have bought CJ’s properties is the kind of witness that the de campanillas like Cuevas would shred. This witness could have brought out the best in Cuevas during a cross. Sayang they are on the same side.

What appalls me is the defense’s lie (or false confidence) in claiming that the witness stood out as a very credible witness. Together with Senator Vilma Santos, they say that it is usual for Filipinos not to immediately transfer a title to their names. They cite cases of grandfathers selling their land to grandsons and the ‘buyers’ taking their time in transferring the titles to their names. But they fail to say (and the prosecutors again failed to counter) that these people, despite the on-transfer of title, still keep the land in the family. That’s why they don’t bother at all. In the buyer of CJ’s land, his failure raises suspicion of a simulated sale. It is as if the lots are still in CJ’s family.

Conspiracy theories about a simulated sale, with the CJ not fully confident that the buyer-poseur will not transfer the title that’s why the sale effectively remains un-notarized, are easier to swallow. This time, Occam’s razor does not favor the defense.