MANILA, Philippines -- An opposition leader in the House of Representatives on Friday said President Benigno Aquino III's call to the public to take a more active role in the impeachment trial was "irresponsible" and "desperate."
"The administration, led by the President, is conditioning the minds of the people that the Chief Justice is already guilty. He is pressuring the senator-judges to vote against the Chief Justice by saying it is their obligation to do what the people want but is it truly what they want or what he wants?” Zambales Representative Ma. Milagros Magsaysay said.
Magsaysay made these remarks after President delivered a speech which said that before the EDSA revolution in 1986, ordinary people embarked on a civil disobedience campaign to show that the power rests on the public and not on the government of then-dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
The lawmaker said that reminding the people about civil disobedience was like telling them to "recreate history," which she said was "irresponsible" and "desperate." She said there are no short cuts to the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona and that the process must be observed.
"The role of the senator-judges is to serve the interests of the people by making their judgment based on evidence, not to kowtow to pressure or submit to the demands of the administration," she said. "There are rules to follow and what he (President) wants is to railroad the process as he had with the signing of the impeachment complaint, depriving Corona of the chance to present his side of the story," she added.
Instead of meddling with the trial, Magsaysay said the President should just focus on the economy.
source: interaksyon.com
