ANGARA: I WILL MULL OVER FINAL ARGUMENTS
BEFORE MAKING DECISION

Senator Edgardo J. Angara promised to take everything into consideration, drawing on his "considerable experience and knowledge of the law" in making his final decision as Chief Justice Renato Corona's impeachment trial comes to a close.

"I will reflect on everything that was said especially during their final arguments. The summations presented as their oral arguments explained and clarified a lot of the technicalities that were discussed at length in the course of the impeachment trial," said the Senator-Judge in an interview following yesterday's oral arguments from both the prosecution and defense panels.

Since most of the technical issues were already threshed out during the 42 previous trial days, Angara stated that he will base his decision on the based on his conscience and the evidence presented as each of the articles were discussed and debated.

"My decision to either acquit or convict centers on his fitness to decide as the chief magistrate. The issue of the impeachment of the chief magistrate centers on that factor. For example: for the president, fitness to rule and govern; for the magistrate, fitness to render evenhanded justice. That goes to character," he said.

According to Angara, all public officials should be careful, especially those who are subject to impeachment.

"All elected officials, from the President and Vice-President, and the members of Congress, we are accountable to the people directly. We have definite accountability, a notable difference between the judiciary and the two political branches-- the legislative and executive," he said.

He further explained that the impeachment process was created to fill the gap in accountability.

"If you are not an elected official, to whom are you accountable? Much of our government is based on what we call the Republican System: it has the distinctive mark of representation. Meaning, you represent the people. However, the judiciary is not elected so they do not represent the people. So to whom are they accountable and by what method? That is the rationale behind the impeachment," said Angara.

When asked about the remaining session days after the conclusion of the Chief Justice's impeachment trial, the veteran lawmaker said that he was looking forward to doing legislative work again.

"Kailangan, makabalik na kami ulit sa paggawa ng mga batas. It's been quite a while since we've been able to focus on legislation."