POLITICAL 7
Senate convicts Chief Justice Corona
The Senate Impeachment Court, voting by an unexpectedly high 20-3, has convicted Chief Justice Renato Corona. The senators believe that the Chief Magistrate is guilty of culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust for his failure to truthfully and fully disclose his assets in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN). It found Mr. Corona unfi t to stay on as the Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines.
t is the first impeachment case in Philippine history to be successfully completed. I It was generally expected the vote would be close, it wasn’t. It was an overwhelming indictment of the Chief Justice. The character of the three that thought him innocent only further strengthened the indictment against him. What nailed him was his own admission of what was in his bank accounts. He argued the dollars were legitimately saved (using some strange fi nancial logic) but that wasn’t at issue. What was was that he hadn’t declared them. Claiming non-disclosure was allowed due to the confi dentiality of the Foreign Currency Deposit Act was a twisting of interpretation of a law unbecoming a lawyer, let alone the Chief Justice. Whist the “commingling” of peso deposits also defi ed that President Aquino’s fi xation on eradicating corruption reasonable belief. Even if true he should have declared as they could lead to some quite fundamental change in Philippine were listed in his assets (they were in bank accounts under his society as senior members of society realize they too may name) and then offset them with a debit item. He didn’t do so. be caught if they now don’t behave. It was a huge gamble of The Senate decision effectively removes Mr. Corona from his the president, one he has won. We can expect more to follow. position and bars him from assuming public offi ce for the rest of his life. It will be interesting to see the impact that Mr. Corona’s More than two-thirds of the Senate (only 16 votes were conviction will have on President Aquino’s popularity, an needed to convict the CJ) agree that the SALN law, which important political capital necessary to implement tough measures. requires FULL disclosure of assets including cash-in-bank, should Contrary to Mr. Corona’s claim that the impeachment override the Foreign Currency Deposits Act which, according trial was an attack on the judicial branch of government, the to Mr. Corona and his lawyers, grants absolute confi dentiality WBF believes that the impeachment was a required initial to all foreign currency deposits without qualification. step toward strengthening the integrity of the Supreme The Chief Justice’s impeachment trial is regarded as one Court, and of the country’s judiciary as a whole. The case of the current administration’s boldest moves to tackle graft has shown the dramatic decline of former president Arroyo and corruption in the Philippines. Ombudsman Gutierrez is who desperately needed to keep the fi ercely loyal Corona in out; ex-president Arroyo is under hospital arrest; and now position to protect her once her cases reach that court (as will Chief Justice Corona has just been expelled. Hopefully, these are only the beginning of a true clean-up. The WBF believes Philippine Alert May 2012 8 POLITICAL
HOW THE SENATOR-JUDGES VOTED
CONVICT ACQUIT
1. Juan Ponc 1. Joker Arroyo 2. Edgardo Angara 2. Miriam Defensor-Santiago 3. Alan Peter Cayetano 3. Bongbong Marcos 4. Pia Cayetano 5. Franklin Drilon 6. Francis Escudero 7. Jinggoy Estrada 8. Teofi sto Guingona lll 9. Gringo Honasan 10. Panfi lo Lacson 11. Lito Lapid 12. Loren Legarda 13. Serge Osmeña 14. Francis Pangilinan 15. Koko Pimentel 16. Ralph Recto 17. Bong Revilla 18. Tito Sotto 19. Antonio Trillanes IV 20. Manny Villar
COMMON POINTS RAISED BY THE 20 SENATOR-JUDGES