ANGARA: IMPEACHMENT DECISION BASED ON COUNTRY,
CONSCIENCE AND GOD

Senator Edgardo J. Angara assured the public that he will be an impartial judge at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona which is set to start this afternoon.

"The rules of the Senate as an Impeachment Court are very clear: we all have to be politically neutral," he said.

The Senator-Judges took their oath before Congress went into holiday break in December, donning the symbolic red robes for the first time.

"Our decision will be based on what's good for the country, something that will satisfy our conscience. Those are the most important criteria--country, conscience and God," said Angara, former Senate President.

Angara, former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, said he and his fellow judges are tasked to base their decisions only on evidence. "As Senator-Judges, we must be ever watchful."