MANILA, Philippines — One week into the impeachment trial, and a startling revelation promises sweeping extensive benefits to governance and ecology.

It was like pulling teeth, but after several Jerry Lewisque attempts, prosecution finally succeeded in making known to the public that Chief Justice Renato Corona didn’t file his ITR from 2002 to 2009.

But then witness BIR Chief Kim Jacinto Henares produced a rabbit hat trick… voila, the “A list” of the Supreme Court!

We never knew of this facility (and it seemed that the “A List” was of first impression even to the learned presiding chief justice of the impeachment court Senator Juan Ponce Enrile and the rest of the august Senate body).

And not only the Supreme Court availed of it – even a GOCC like the John Hay facility used the “A List” instead of the ITR.

Since I had no other source of income in my years with government service, (outside of a short spell running on the side Spit & Polish, a shop with pretensions to bespoke tailoring), I could have saved midnight voltage filing my ITR and just let DFA include mine in its end of the year “A list.”

Why didn’t anybody tell us that civil servants could all qualify on the “A” Team and that their ITR could just simply be reported in the “A List?”

DFA Undersecretary Rafael Seguis should now ask his bean-counting gnomes to start this practice and cover all personnel here and in the foreign service.

Budget Secretary Butch Abad could save “rivers of ink and mountains of paper” by requiring all government offices which collect withholding taxes to file the “A List” for their complement.

Without even trying, DENR Secretary Ramon Jesus Paje could save our forests (from reams of triplicate ITR forms) that over 900,000 civil servants use for their ITR.

MMDA Chairman Francis Tolentino could spare Metropolitan Manila residents the bladder-bursting traffic when everyone tries to beat the April 15 BIR deadline every year.

And all the time, BIR could use the time and energy saved in going after the big time tax evaders.

Now, isn’t that the beauty of bumbling serendipity…?

FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY. “An accuser must go to the impeachment court with clean hands, but the House prosecutors thought that meant showing up empty-handed.” — Anonymous.

A pundit likened Serafin Cuevas to the Miami Heat’s Lebron James and Niel Tupas to the Ateneo Blue Eagle’s Emman Monfort. (Emman might take offense.)

A leader of the House of Representatives rejected yesterday calls to replace Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. as head of the prosecution panel. Anak siya ng Tatay niya, but he may yet bare fangs to show the wolf in sheep’s clothing.

JANUARY 25th. P-Noy observed the 79th birth anniversary of former President Corazon Aquino by turning over homes for “Sendong” victims. A fitting tribute to our Joan of Arc and Inang Bayan.

INTERNATIONAL. It wasn’t Cinderella but Australian Prime Minister Ms. Julia Eileen Gillard who lost a shoe while escaping from aborigine demo on “invasion day.” They didn’t step on her navy blue suede wedge shoe, but claimed it as trophy, with facebook comment: “What’s losing a shoe against losing a continent?” FEEDBACK: jaz_aide@yahoo.com