CHIEF / BIG NAME LAWYERS LINE UP TO DEFEND CORONA
MANILA, DECEMBER
15, 2011 (STAR)
[PHOTO - Chief Justice Renato Corona delivers a speech beside his
wife Maria Cristina during a court holiday at the Supreme Court in Manila
yesterday. Jonjon Vicencio]
I. Respondent betrayed the public trust through his track record
marked by partiality and subservience in cases involving the Arroyo
administration from the time of his appointment as Supreme Court justice which
continued to his dubious appointment as a midnight chief justice and up to the
present.
II. Respondent committed culpable violation of the Constitution and/or
betrayed the public trust when he failed to disclose to the public his statement
of assets, liabilities, and net worth as required under Section. 17, Article XI
of the 1987 Constitution.
III. Respondent committed culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayed
the public trust by failing to meet and observe the stringent standards under
Article VIII, Section 7 (3) of the Constitution that provides that "[A] member
of the judiciary must be a person of proven competence, integrity, probity, and
independence" in allowing the Supreme Court to act on mere letters filed by a
counsel , which caused the issuance of flip-flopping decisions in final and
executory cases; in creating an excessive entanglement with Mrs. Arroyo through
her appointment of his wife to office; and in discussing with litigants
regarding cases pending before the Supreme Court.
IV. Respondent betrayed the public trust and/or committed culpable violation
of the Constitution when it blatantly disregarded the principle of separation of
powers by issuing a "status quo ante" order against the House of Representatives
in the case concerning the impeachment of then Ombudsman Merceditas
Navarro-Gutierrez.
[PHOTO - NCR judges and court employees march from Manila City
Hall to the Supreme Court to demonstrate their support for Chief Justice Renato
Corona. EDD GUMBAN]
V. Respondent committed culpable violation of the Constitution through wanton
arbitrariness and partiality in consistently disregarding the principle of res
judicata and in deciding in favor of gerry-mandering in the cases involving the
16 newly-created cities, and the promotion of Dinagat Island into a province.
VI. Respondent betrayed the public trust by arrogating unto himself, and to a
committee he created, the authority and jurisdiction to improperly investigate
an alleged erring member of the Supreme Court for the purpose of exculpating
him. Such authority and jurisdiction is properly reposed by the Constitution in
the House of Representatives via impeachment.
[PHOTO - Senators acting as judges in the impeachment trial of
Chief Justice Renato Corona are sworn in by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile
at the Senate yesterday. MANNY MARCELO]
VII. Respondent betrayed the public trust through his partiality in granting
a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of former President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo in order to give them an
opportunity to escape prosecution and to frustrate the ends of justice, and in
distorting the Supreme Court decision on the effectivity of the TRO in view of a
clear failure to comply with the conditions of the Supreme Court's own TRO.
VIII. Respondent betrayed the public trust and/or committed graft and
corruption when he failed and refused to account for the judiciary development
fund (JDF) and special allowance for the judiciary (SAJ) collections.
'Big name lawyers want to defend Corona' (The
Philippine Star) Updated December 15, 2011 09:55 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Big name lawyers are lining up and offering their
services for free to defend Chief Justice Renato Corona in the impeachment trial
at the Senate early next year.
Supreme Court (SC) Administrator Midas Marquez said that the lawyers who will
form the defense team for Corona is still being finalized.
"I'm also very pleasantly surprised because there are so many big name
lawyers offering their services to the Chief Justice for free," Marquez said in
a television interview.
He denied reports that veteran lawyer Estelito Mendoza, who defended former
President Joseph Estrada in an impeachment trial before his ouster in 2001.
In a speech before hundreds of members of the judiciary yesterday, Corona
said that he will not back out from the impeachment trial and assured that he
will answer the allegations against him point-for-point during the trial proper.
Meanwhile, Marquez said that Corona would likely continue to function as the
SC's chief even during the impeachment trial, which will start January 16 next
year.
"There is no reason for him to go on leave. He has his battery of lawyers
defending him before the Senate," he said.
He, however, said that Corona may still opt to take a leave and appoint a
caretaker "if the time comes that he thinks he cannot perform fully his function
anymore as chief justice."
Marquez reiterated that the bases cited by congressmen-complainants in the
impeachment case against Corona are "baseless" and about "past issues."
He also insisted that the impeachment case against Corona is also a form of
attack on the high court and the judiciary as the grounds cited by the
complainants were about decisions made by magistrates as a whole.
The impeachment complaint cited that several decisions issued by the SC on
several cases involving former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo were partial.
Also yesterday, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) issued a
statement expressing their opposition to Corona's impeachment.
"The impeachment has placed on trial not only the Chief Justice but the
entire Supreme Court. The grounds invoked to impeach the Chief Justice refer to
collegial decisions of the Supreme Court involving interpretations of law in
actual disputes elevated for review," the IBP said in a statement.
It said that in all of the cases cited in the impeachment complaint, Corona
merely concurred with the majority or minority opinion and was not the ponente.
"Neither did the Chief Justice flip-flop or change his position in any of
these cases. The decisions were reached by the Supreme Court pursuant to its
processes and subjected to reconsideration proceedings. They all involve
interpretation of what the law is," the lawyers' group added.
The SC decisions cited in the complaint were:
invalidation by the high court of President Aquino's Executive Order No. 1,
which creates the Truth Commission; upholding of the Court of the laws enacted
by Congress involving the creation of the provinces of Dinagat Island, the
conversion of 16 municipalities into cities, and the creation of a new
congressinal district in Camarines Sur; issuance of a status quo ante order in
the House of Representatives' impeachment proceedings against former Ombudsman
Merceditas Gutierrez; and issuance of a temporary restraining order against the
watchlist order issued by the Department of Justice to prevent the travel abroad
of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. The IBP also said that the two
other grounds -- Corona's failure to submit his statement of assets, liabilities
and networth (SALN) and account for the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) and
Special Allowance for the Judiciary (SAJ) collections -- involve the assertion
by the high court of its fiscal autonomy.
The group cited a resolution by the SC in 1992, which says the Chief Justice
and Associated Justices can file their SALN directly with the Clerk of Court. It
added the Chief Justice also has authority over the SAJ and JDF collections
pursuant to the SC's fiscal autonomy, which the group said is not being
prohibited by the government's Commission on Audit.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved
PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
