Impeachment...Reality TV

I am interested in Ombudsman Mercedita (No Mercy for Merci) Gutierrez's impeachment trial. If (or when) the articles of impeachment is transmitted to the senate, and the senate is convened as jury, this will the second time that a live televised impeachment trial will be witnessed by the Filipinos. The first one was the Estrada impeachment that resulted to the so called EDSA 2 revolution that resulted to GMA becoming president that resulted in many controversies and major, major corruption issues to which the impending Merci impeachment was just one of the corollaries.

I followed Estrada’s impeachment trial from Speaker Villar’s dramatic transmission of the articles of impeachment to the senate up to the anticlimactic walk out of the private prosecutors. The former president’s impeachment caught the country’s attention and imagination. It was avidly monitored by almost all the Filipinos. When I was working as a copier operator at a bank in Ayala, the office TV was tuned in to the trial. Even the air-conditioned bus plying EDSA had their TV’s monitoring the drama in the senate. The impeachment trial's TV ratings even beat some top rating soap operas’.

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I’m interested in the impeachment because I know that it would be entertaining like Estrada’s impeachment. I could still remember how Sergio Apostol made everybody laugh every time he said, “your wetness, your honor”, or, how Clarissa Ocampo told Justice Serafin Cuevas that she does not eat juice.  Estrada’s televised impeachment trial showed real life courtroom drama in the Philippines ala L.A. Law and the Practice. I bet it inspired a lot of the youth to take up law…in their dreams. Although Merci's possible impeachment may not be as big as the former president's, but still the media hype could arouse the people's interest.

I also learned Latin words like, “subpoena deuces tecum”, “subpoena deuces testificandum” that I sometimes think I could now challenge some albularyo with spell casting and exorcism. I also witnessed how top lawyers like the Fortun brothers conduct their courtroom examinations and how the prosecutors led by Joker Arroyo present their arguments.

I do not care about the outcome because whatever happens, the rotten egg would only be replaced by another rotten egg that is friendly with Malacanang.
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 I am excited about the trial because I know a lot of people will be making a fool of themselves. What is a better reality TV show than this? (The impending impeachment, I mean)