A Chance for Ilonggos to Shine in Impeachment Trial

By Alex P. Vidal

“Stardom isn’t a profession, it’s an accident.” – Lauren Bacall

WE’RE sure Iloilo third district Rep. Lorenz Defensor won’t be the only Ilonggo who will take an active part in the forthcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Either in the prosecution or defense panel, there will also be personalities with Ilonggo roots; Ilonggos are always present in any undertaking that involves brilliancy and splendor, as well as controversy and shame.

Because we are Ilonggos, it’s but natural to focus on 47-year-old Defensor, who is a lawyer by profession and one of the most admired and highly regarded political stars in Iloilo nowadays.

If the impeachment trial becomes his springboard to political stardom, so be it. If he is talented enough, it will show; if he is mediocre and a mere fly in the ointment, it will also show.

Defensor, youngest son of former assemblyman and Iloilo governor Arthur “Art” Defensor and younger brother of current Gov. Arthur “Toto” Defensor, Jr., has been in the news these past months; TV networks, major newspapers and websites have been queuing to interview him.

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The press finds Defensor, a member of the House prosecution panel, to be reliable and trustworthy as chief source of important facts and information about the impeachment trial.

The press also finds his opinion to be more credible and well grounded as compared to other blathering politicians who make comments and observations about the impeachment.

During the actual impeachment trial, many eyes will be on Defensor and other young turks with brilliant legal minds as they try to convince the judges-senators to convict the embattled vice president accused of misusing multimillions of pesos worth of public funds through intelligence funds, among other alleged acts of corruption and irregularities as vice president and former education secretary.

If they perform well, the future is also bright politically and otherwise for many of Defensor’s peers in the prosecution panel: Reps. Marcelino Libanan, Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro, Romeo Acop, Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez, Joel Chua, Raul Angelo “Jil” Bongalon, Loreto Acharon, Arnan Panaligan, Ysabel Maria Zamora, and Jonathan Keith Flores.

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Since this is expected to be a mega event in the Philippines politically, the impeachment trial can serve as prime source of selection process for the country’s next leaders in the higher echelon.

The highly anticipated impeachment trial, to be covered “live” by major media networks and expected to generate millions of viewership and readership in the Philippines and abroad, will make or unmake—and even unmask—many characters with ambition for higher offices in 2028 and beyond.

That’s why it is important for participants—the accused and House panel members acting as prosecutors as well as the senators-judges—to go to court with clean hands, so to speak.

By “clean hands” means they must act with utmost good faith and maintain their impartiality, objectivity and fairness (although many of us doubt some of them will behave this way).

They all hold the key to their own political future. Either they will behave or misbehave; either they will show their biases or play fair and square and base only their judgement on the pieces of evidence, not on personal and political affiliations and attachments.

(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor-in-chief of two leading daily newspapers in Iloilo, Philippines.—Ed)