The impeachment defense team of Chief Justice Corona may not be that aware but it already faces a disaster in a hitherto-peripheral issue that may well constitute an entirely new impeachment article in itself. This has to do with the Basa-Guidote case and comes in a neat, old but perfectly credible nun called Sister Flory.
Sister Flory Basa, 90 years old, is the last surviving sibling and one of the last surviving original stockholders of Basa-Guidote Enterprises, Inc. (BGEI), the family corporation where Cristina Roco-Corona, CJ Corona’s wife served as administrator. She basically refuted all assertions so far by CJ Corona on the alleged BGEI funds deposited in his accounts, the authority of his wife to dispose of BGEI assets, and the state of affairs in BGEI and the Basa-Guidote clan itself.
In doing so, she brought to the fore the key relevant question: Did lawyer-husband and chief justice Rene Corona rendered justice in the BGEI case and did he demonstrated probity, integrity, and honesty in handling himself in relation to the Basa-Guidote clan and the case itself?
If the version of events and analysis of Sister Flory and Ana Basa (her niece) in relation to CJ Corona’s behavior in relation to BGEI, to the alleged BGEI funds in his accounts, and to the rest of the Basa-Guidote clan cannot be effectively refuted by the defense, then the ironical situation will emerge–that of the public opinion hardening for the impeachment of CJ Corona and the senator-judges possibly voting for it. It is the height of irony that–though the vote will be on the three extant articles of impeachment–at the back of the mind of all the voting senator-judges will be a “fourth article” of the Basa-Guidote case.
To be sure, what has been damaged here–possibly beyond repair–was CJ Corona’s campaign from day one to portray himself as the underdog under attack from a powerful and vengeful president Aquino. The Basa-Guidote case portrayed a reversal of role–that of a powerful and greedy Malacañang official, and later the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, oppressing and bullying a hapless family out of their wealth and inheritance.
I don’t know who will vote for him. Certainly, it will be a risky political proposition.
Most likely to vote for Atty.Corona:
1)The Joker (not a re-electionist)
2) Senadora Miriam
3) Marcos Junior
4) Villar (not a re-electionist)
5) One of The Cayetano siblings(to play it safe)
6) Bong Revilla (he needs the “talent fee”)
7) Lapid (thanks to the Pinedas)
Hi Mon, what I find ironic is that a religious sister who took a canonical vow of poverty is (or was) a stockholder of a private corporation? It would be more logical if she was a proxy for their congregation’s corporations, but to be a stockholder of a private corporation would be detrimental. Unless she relinquished her stocks before taking her vows, the defense will have a heyday destroying her credibility if she takes the witness stand as a rebuttal witness. She would have been around 38 -39 years old in 1961. A typical religious sister then would have taken the vows at the age of 25. If proven, she has no moral standing and would be no different from what is being accused of the Coronas.
If so, that’s already 7 for Corona. All he needs is 1 more. With all the might and millions of INK and the Glory Mob, that additional one more is easy. Who will it be?.
Glory Mob? There is no Glory Mob. GMA was never able to muster even an El Shaddai-sized crowd in her ten-year reign. Edsa Dos can’t even be called a Glory Mob as that was really the Yellow Army. It’s just the INK.
Waldon, what I meant here was the Gloria Mob (as in Mobsters or Mafia), not the EDSA 2 crowd.
Mon, voting for CJ Corona is not a risky political proposition. There could be nothing “riskier” than seeing a CJ a yes man to Malacañang and a blind vote among the senator-judges