Contrapuntal That impeachment is Sue generis, meaning, it is of its own kind or class, is beyond cavil.

However, within the abovementioned avowed accord among parties, contrapuntal reasons are sounded off from the prosecution and the defense panels in this trial of the Supreme Court Chief Justice. Our position, tenuous and transient as it may seem, is that: the truth lies not in the two independent proclamations of the contending sides but in the harmony created by the clashing ratiocinations ---through oral and written manifestations--- from both sides. The harmony is the synthesis. The conflicting legal positions are the analyses. No synthesis without analysis. But synthesis is neither a mechanical unity of disparate analyses nor a mere cataloguing of contradictory arguments. Synthesis is a distillation! It is the extraction of the essence, i.e., the truth, of every explanation advanced by either side of the contest in the heat of legal argumentation. Truth. Synthesis. Harmony. It is the Filipino people, through their collective ear, who will hear the melody of truth in this impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona in the last analysis. And a Caveat to those who underestimate the Filipino peoples musicality --- People Power is a handog sa Pilipino sa mundo phenomenon establishing a world- historical fact that we as a people is a connoisseur of the music of mass movements. We, the people, know whether what we are hearing is the aria of truth by Lady Justice or the melodic but misleading vocals of a primo vomo; either way, we will definitely know. For lo and Behold! The cacophony of mass address systems, megaphones and militant chanting always allure us ---the People Power Filipino People--- as a fitting finale to this on-going national political opera. Winning the Peace The Aquino administration in its Internal Peace and Security Plan (IPSP) dubbed OPLAN BAYANIHAN outlined its strategic direction in winning the peace, vis--vis the existing armed rebellion of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New Peoples ArmyNational Democratic Front (CPP-NPA-NDF) and of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in southern Mindanao.

OPLAN BAYANIHAN is a progressive document crafted within the framework of a comprehensive security sector reform agenda of the Aquino presidency in line with the strategic direction of establishing an Open Society. But as the clich goes, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. The Aquino administrations sincerity shall now be tested in the crucible of social practice. While our own experience as a nation is rather depressing as regards peace, in the view of the 25 years of on-and-off peace negotiations between the GPH and the NDF, still hope springs eternal. It is still better to look forward to the successful implementation ---in letter and spirit--- of OPLAN BAYANIHAN in pursuit of winning the peace; because the alternative is a defeating situation of un-peace.