DURING the first few weeks of the impeachment trial, media, particularly ABS-CBN, religiously covered it, especially when the prosecution catalogued every minute detail of Corona’s properties, clearly inferring that the Chief Justice enriched himself while in office.
Towards the latter weeks, when it became increasingly clear that the bombs against Corona turned out to be duds, ABS-CBN suddenly stopped its coverage, making an enthralled audience wonder why, considering the wide viewership it enjoyed, ABS-CBN suddenly stopped its coverage without as much as explain why it did so. The why can best be answered by the fact that, on top of the bungling of its in competent prosecutors, the prosecution really didn’t have much to show by way of proving Corona’s guilt. It resorted to summoning practically every Tom, Dick and Harry, prompting Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile to say that the prosecution does not have any evidence at all and that it asked the Impeachment Court to summon everyone they can think of because they are engaged in a fishing expedition. The prosecution had a field day in trying Corona by publicity, prompting one senator-judge to say that, since the prosecution cannot prove its case in the impeachment court, it is now trying to convict Corona in the Court of Public Opinion. However, because of the apparent weakness of its case against the Chief Justice, public opinion began to shift so that, where before there was its tendency to lynch Corona, the public is now in the mood to give him the benefit of the doubt. And the defense has not even begun to present Corona’s side. It is not farfetched to say that, with this shift in public opinion, once Corona has presented its side, he might come out smelling like a rose. Is it any wonder why ABS-CBN, which is clearly becoming, like the Inquirer, a Malacañang organ, stopped covering the impeachment trial? In the local scene, we heard that the Monico’s vice-mayoralty slot has narrowed down to Vladi Gonzales and Archie Baribar. El Cid Familiaran, who is also positioning himself for the post, apparently is out of the picture, which explains the rumor that he is poised to abandon Monico’s camp and is now gravitating towards Thaddy Sayson. Archie would make a strong teammate for Monico. Although he miserably lost when he ran for Congress, he resuscitated his political career by topping the Sanggunian elections in 2010. Archie commands a strong following among the middle class and maybe even among the elite, but he does not seem to have strong roots among the C-D classes. Unfortunately for him, he does not have Leonardia’s catiluid appeal. Nor does he have Leonardia’s famed Mona Liza smile. Archie comes out too formal and too distant from the rabble. Vladi Gonzales, on the other hand, had demonstrated a strong following among the independent voters when he ran, albeit foolishly, for mayor in 2010, like Don Quixote tilting with the windmills. A hastily built political organization minus the precinctual structure of both Monico and Bing Leonardia also earned him a share in the mass votes. Unfortunately for Baribar, his appeal is concentrated mainly among the city’s professionals, a sector which also went to Vladi in 2010. Assuming that the professional-middle class is evenly divided between them, Vladi’s distinct advantage over Baribar is that his votes are organizational, no matter how adequate it was in 2010. In other words, Vladi’s votes are transferrable, something which Baribar cannot claim as his votes come mainly from among the independent voters who have minds of their own and therefore cross vote if voting for the other teammate suits them. Ely delos Santos Sun Star Bacolod
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