Clash of colors: Purple vs white

IF YOU’RE batting for “CJ,” then join their Purple Monday. But if you think his accusers are right, then wear white.

Court employees nationwide are expected to wear purple

today as a show of unity and support for Chief Justice Renato Corona at the start of his impeachment trial at the Senate.

“It’s the color of the judiciary and the symbol of our support for the independence and integrity of the Supreme Court. By wearing it today, we are showing we are one and united,” said lawyer Virginia Rafael, president of the Philippine Association of Court Employees (PACE).

“We asked our members to wear purple—(whether) a blouse, shirt, armband, ribbon, scarf—to show that we stand together in this cause,” Rafael said.

“You cannot (separate) CJ Corona from the Supreme Court; he has our support,” she added.

Also as part of their Monday flag ceremony, court personnel would also say a prayer—one usually recited indoors at the start of a typical trial day—this time for the Senate impeachment court.

“We will invoke it for the truth to come out and for the enlightenment of the parties involved,” said the PACE president.

“We believe in the nonbias of the senator-judges, their intelligence, independence and integrity,” she added.

On the other side, a leader of the Black & White Movement (BWM), one of the groups supporting calls for Corona’s ouster, called on the public to wear white today.

“White is the color of truth and the lack of artifice,” said BWMEXecutive director Leah Navarro, whose group is joining mass actions on Monday to mark Day One of the historic trial.

“We are mobilizing to express our support for the prosecution panel which is said to be the underdog in this trial,” Navarro told the INQUIRER last night.

Statues to be covered

Thousands of court employees are also expected to turn up in what they call a sendoff ceremony for Corona and his defense team, according to the Supreme Court Employees Association (SCEA).

“The court workers are all agitated. We will show our disgust over the Chief Justice’s impeachment by joining the program (today),” said the SCEA president, Jojo Guerrero.

He said his group would also cover the statues of the late Chief Justices Cayetano Arellano and Jose Abad Santos in front of the Supreme Court building in Manila “to symbolize the death of democracy.”

“We will also tie black ribbons along the roads to deliver our message to the people whose minds were already poisoned by the media,” Guerrero said.

‘Call to vigilance’

At the Palace, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte issued a “call to vigilance” and urged the public to closely follow the trial.

“We exhort everybody to monitor, to watch, to listen, to learn and to make your own judgment,” Valte said.

“Let’s listen to both sides on what evidence will be presented. Because while in the end it will be the senator-jurors who will be making the judgment, it will also be good for us to be apprised of the issues and the pieces of evidence that will be presented against the one on trial,” she added.

President Aquino will likely use his free time in between meetings and other engagements today to catch the televised trial, according to Valte.

“Our work will not just stop because of this trial,” Valte told government radio station dzrb.

The President’s schedule on Monday includes a quick visit to his home province of Tarlac for the inauguration of the D’luxe Bags Phils. facility at Barangay Sta. Rosa in Concepcion town, she said.

Demo at Senate gates

Civil society groups said they would hold a mass action demanding Corona’s ouster at the Senate gates in the morning and would have representatives watching the trial up close at the plenary hall in the afternoon.

“We are most interested in seeing (former President) Gloria Macapagal-arroyo accountable and the impeachment of the Chief Justice is a part of that process, ” said Fr. Joe Dizon, a convenor of Gloria Panagutin! Movement.

“To the public prosecutors, do not underestimate the defense. And to the defense, we hope they will not engage in too many dilatory tactics,” Dizon said.

Renato Reyes, secretary general of the militant group Bayan, said the trial would be “educational” to Filipinos since the judiciary had “not been made to account for corruption in the way the executive and legislative had been.”

“More than the unfolding drama, let’s not lose track of the main issue, that of holding (Arroyo) accountable,” Reyes stressed. With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Miko Morelos, Kristine L. Alave and Jocelyn Uy