Photos by MARIO IGNACIO IV, VERA Files
On Tuesday, May 29, 2012, the Senate either acquits or convicts Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona after an impeachment trial that stretched over nearly five months.
The trial was broadcast live over radio, television and the Internet. The public was introduced to new and not-so-new names and faces from both prosecution and defense, and re-introduced to lawmakers from both chambers of Congress.
The Senate session hall became an arena and a stage during the hearings that began at 2 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays when the senators sat as judges in the impeachment court. In the mornings, when the media were mostly absent, the senators attended to their usual legislative work.
In the slideshow above, VERA Files' Mario Ignacio captured the images from the historic period that ends on May 29, 2012.
(VERA Files is put out by senior journalists taking a deeper look at current issues. VERA is Latin for true.)