The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Though one side of the Impeachment Court has the word Honorable prefixed before their names, being members of the august specimens of Senatus Populus Que Pilipinensis, and across them is the Witness Chair occupied by ordinary members of our Pambansang Mananaliksik (NBI), it is easy to conclude that shorn of their titles, garments and auras, both sets are employees of the Filipino people who pay them their salaries – the Honorables whoget a basic salary of some Php300,000.00 a month, while the witnesses-employees on the other side of the courtroom could get Php 80,000.00 – or nearby amount. These figures are not necessarily near each other, because the Honorables get allowances that shoot up towards the Andromeda galaxy, and the agents of investigation may have to rely on GSIS salary loans for their children’s matriculation fees.
But this introduction is neither here nor there, but rather a short exposition of the performance of their roles so far in the Impeachment Chronicles of 2026 is hereby attempted. The Senate is akin and nearest to our version of a jury trial, a practice which the Americans did not see fit to introduce in our country. These Caucasians of North America were partial to being judged by their peers, while our Iberian 3 centuries-long conquistadores were heirs to the Civil Law of Rome, the Justinian Code and the Napoleonic Code. By osmosis, though, our legal system inherited a little fromboth colonial oppressors, birthing us into a mestizo orphan even in laws, as a hybrid of Spanish and American influences.
So far, so bad; for our jury members are better disrobed of their crimson garments, and better don the suits of advocates, for their questioning betrays their bias in the conviction or acquittal of the elephant in the room, who has chosen not to attend – just waiting for the triumphant expectation of spotless innocence called acquittal; or the ignominy of dismissal and disqualification from holding any future political office. On the other hand, the NBI employees, in their ordinariness and simplicity, have come out better employees of the Filipinos in the people’s search for truth and justice. Fiat justitia, coelum ruat.