Aquino: Even more unchecked and unbalanced

After the House of Representatives was pork-barreled into signing without studying the Articles of Impeachment against then Chief Justice Renato Corona in December 2011, this writer warned: “A President unchecked and unbalanced by co-equal powers and independent constitutional bodies run by his handpicked appointees and under threat of Palace-orchestrated impeachment or, in the case of Congress, pork barrel drought? That’s where we are now, but for a Senate conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona.”

One and a half years later, the nation is even further along the road, not necessarily straight, toward strongman rule. Indeed, not only was Corona convicted and replaced by a loyal Aquino appointee, the last remaining check on Palace domination — an independent Senate — looks set to pass into history.