It looks like Ilocos Norte Rep. Rudy Fariñas might be laying the groundwork for a completely different approach to prosecuting Chief Justice Renato Corona. In what was described in an ABS-CBN “report†as an episode that provided “some unexpected comic relief” to the impeachment trial, Fariñas delivered a fine performance for the cameras as he argued his position with Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile — so fine, that reporter Karen Davila was moved to gush over Twitter “Cong. Rudy Farinas is hilarious.”
The tactic has obviously worked on some people. Fariñas seems to be capitalising on the media coverage of this circus to slant the trial more towards what many who have criticised the erstwhile Vulcan logic applied by Enrile and lead defense attorney Serafin Cuevas have long asserted that it really is — a political exercise and not a criminal proceeding. Specifically, it is one that will have brought to bear the weight of public opinion upon the motivation of the senator-judges to convict or acquit Corona. Where former lead prosecutor Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr failed both as a lawyer and as a grandstander, Fariñas has evidently stepped up.
If Davila’s reaction reflects the broader sentiment of the Filipino public — a public enamored to patawa and ocho-ocho politics, then it is possible that the prosecution has found its footing after weeks of stumbling over itself.
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In this light, Fariñas’s astoundingly bold dismissal of the very Articles of Impeachment his team supposedly stands for as a “poorly crafted” legal artifact and the audacity he exhibited in proudly highlighting the fact that he was not one of the 188 House representatives who were strong-armed into signing it could possibly be a stroke of genius. By discrediting the sloppily-written Articles of Impeachment and, on the same stroke, giving a demonstration today of how a bit of showbiz flair applied to the floor can suddenly pump up an audience, Fariñas may have set the stage for an unhinging of the prosecution strategy from the dud of a document that had been dragging it down.
That, plus a hoped-for snowballing of a critical mass of audience-fueled momentum around Fariñas’s cheerleading style on the floor could turn the tables on the defense team who have so far enjoyed broad public approval for the class it had consistently exhibited over the last several weeks of the trial.
Ultimately it depends on the resolve of the senator-judges to stay the course and keep the trial proceedings sober and dignified. Enrile had, unfortunately, exhibited disturbing signs today that he could be steamrollered by Fariñas’s yammering. Influential media personalities like Davila likewise had already shown early signs of susceptibility to showmanship that is irrelevant to the goal of the trial. Indeed a trial that is turned into a comedy show would presumably be in the interest of media networks who are investing vast resources to cover this event. After all, if the trial drags on and legalese progressively pervades it, it could lose the lucrative audience that is the whole point of that investment.
For now, hats off to the prosecution who today surfed on Fariñas’s oratory flair and the very evident litigation chops of his colleague Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao. O sige na nga, lets give na rin an honourable mention to the newly-designated prosecution “chuwariwariwap†Niel Tupas Jr.
[Photo courtesy Interaksyon.com.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
As fas as I am concerned the circus has finally arrived! Congressman Rodolfo Farinas will either win the public sympathy by his brusque style or fuel the already angry silent mob as well as the senator judges. My vote is the latter…but whether I am right or wrong still remains to be seen.
The prosecutors will argue it both ways–judicial and political; the general acceptance of the ‘sui generis’ nature of impeachment will ensure that.
As you wrote above, the histrionics of Rep Farinas was spot on.
Lets face it: all the lead actors in this continuing saga are all politicians first, legislators second, and last, as prosecutors/judges, and the least.
And when a politician says he seeks the truth, it means his enlightened self-interest.
I still believe that it’s far too late for the prosecution to win. It was already made clear that they don’t have strong evidence against the Chief Justice and they are all a bunch of liars like their bald boss in malacanang.
I cannot put into words how much I agree with you.
I do strongly agree with you. But what they have done with the bank account is totally illegal. Is the senate will allow this to pass???..
Farinas father was with Marcos, during the Marcos era. Farinas became a Governor of Ilocos Norte. Farinas has some Psychiatric problems, like Noynoy Aquino. His battered wife, died of an “accident” some years ago; by jumping out of their House window; in Laoag, Ilocos Norte…The wife claimed, herself, as a battered wife. She was a former Show Biz personality. Up to now; Farinas has not cleared himself: if his wife really “jumped out” of the window, or was “pushed” by her husband, out of the window…
We don’t like showmanship in any Court Trial…We don’t like the Lopez Media, interfering in the impeachment, as a propaganda tool of Noynoy Aquino.We are trying to find the truth…Farinas cannot even clear himself, in the death/suicide of his wife…how can he win in this impeachment case?
My father never was in Politics, nor with any Politician…I don’t like Politics, myself…but , I need to give this useful information, about Farinas. I never like any President…they are all the same…I’m not a Political Animal…I’m Technical man…Is giving truthful information a sin for some YellowTards? Check the information, yourself. And you’ll see I’m telling the right information.I use my Subconscious mind to see your Past…So Beware!!!
Typical of the Yellow cabal to use such tactics. They can’t win this impeachment without resorting to under-handed tactics. I do hope that the public won’t be blinded by this latest distraction.
What is the role of tupas in the prosecution? I heard that Justice Cuevas yesterday challenging him to lead the direct examination of the witness but I think this guy is also inept to do so. He’s just good in declamation.
Cuevas wanted Tupas to do the direct examination because Cuevas knows that Tupas tends to stuff things up. And the rest of the prosecution already knows this that’s why they asked a more experienced lawyer to do it for them.