MANILA,
DECEMBER 18, 2011 (STAR) By
Aurea Calica - President Aquino countered yesterday the attacks of
Chief Justice Renato Corona as he clarified he was not fighting the
judiciary but was only moving against certain personalities running the
institution who were stumbling blocks to reforms.
Aquino said he was no dictator, contrary to Corona's claim in a
speech delivered in front of the Supreme Court in Manila last Wednesday.
The President said he was not able to watch Corona's speech since he
was being interviewed by a journalist from Time magazine at the time.
"I don't think it is the Supreme Court and the executive that has an
issue. It is certain personalities that are not doing their branch of
the government due service that are causing these problems," Aquino told
reporters in an ambush interview after signing the budget for 2012 at
Malacañang.
The President said it was the High Court's actions that would show dictatorial tendencies.
"Let's see, whose actions are proving something? Example: isn't it
that when we go to the courts, we expect that with the symbol – the lady
of justice – having her eyes blindfolded as she carries the scales of
justice, that what would happen would be nothing but fairness and
certainty when it comes to the laws," Aquino said.
"If you lose that certainty and predictability in the laws, when the
interpretation of the laws keep on changing, who will be followed? Who
is dictating now? I think it's quite difficult to understand that we are
the ones dictating when we are the ones who get dizzy with the changing
decisions that also affect the people," Aquino said.
The President also kept his cool and said he did not want to copy the
style of Corona, who made personal criticisms against him and the
alleged shortcomings of his government.
"But one notable thing is, as I understood it, he said he was filing
his SALN (statements of assets, liabilities and net worth) every year.
But it would have been easy, when he was speaking, to show the copy of
the SALNs that he filed, isn't it? Isn't it when you want to make a
point that you're filing (SALNs), you say here is what I filed. But did
you notice anything that he presented?' Aquino said.
"But maybe next week, he will be able to present what he claimed to
have filed. That would have been the most statement in action isn't it?
This was what I filed? Clear? But he did not do it. Why is that so?"
Aquino asked.
'Walking constitutional violation'
Justice Secretary Leila de Lima also defended President Aquino from
the Chief Justice's allegation that the administration's "baluktot na
daang matuwid" (crooked righteous path) is now the road leading to a
dictatorial government that his late great parents had fought.
"The title could very well apply to him (Corona). There can be no
more apt description of a tyrant than someone who holds himself above
justice and accountability," De Lima said in a strongly worded statement
distributed to reporters at the Department of Justice.
She described Corona as a "walking constitutional violation" and
likened his midnight appointment to the "Hello, Garci" controversy that
hounded the previous administration.
"A midnight appointee held by the neck by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,
Corona should be as he was rightly impeached for the simple reason that,
like Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, he is nothing more than a usurper to a
public office," she said.
She also accused the SC chief of ordering the judges
and court personnel to hold their "court holiday" last Wednesday when
the "wheels of justice had to stop turning for a day" just because he
wanted to say something to them.
De Lima believes the people know better and they understand that
Aquino's bid to oust Corona is not to put a chief justice he could hold
by the neck.
She also reiterated questions on the legality of the midnight
appointment of Corona in May last year, an issue already resolved with
finality – but not without controversy – by the high court under the
watch of then Chief Justice Reynato Puno but was again revived in the
impeachment complaint filed by the House of Representatives with the
Senate.
The DOJ chief further alleged that "unlike the President, all that
Corona can show for himself is his illegal and unconstitutional
appointment as a usurper to the office of the chief justice by the other
usurper Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo."
Hinting on more actions from the Palace against Corona's fellow
magistrates whom she described as "Arroyo justices," De Lima said "it is
time the President and Congress reclaim the court for the people."
Difficult but historic decision
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the impeachment of Corona was a
difficult but historic decision that was "reached freely and voluntarily
by a collective of equals" in the House of Representatives.
In his adjournment speech on Wednesday night, Belmonte said the
chamber exercised its power to impeach with care and lawmakers were
fully aware of the consequences of such a move.
"The impeachment of the chief justice, fifth in line of succession to
the presidency and head of the Honorable Supreme Court—a coequal branch
of government—was an important and difficult decision, perhaps the most
challenging that we have to confront in our present term," Belmonte
said.
"The power to impeach is an awesome power, the exercise of which is
vested in this House to be used only in the most extraordinary of
circumstances," he said.
"It is reserved to exact accountability upon a privileged group of
public officials whose mandate to stay in office arise not from periodic
elections, and who are even beyond the reach of dismissal by the
highest appointing power," he said.
On Monday, 188 administration lawmakers voted to impeach Corona on
eight charges, including alleged misuse of the Judiciary Development
Fund. It was the second time in nine months the House impeached an
official.
Last March, the chamber impeached former Ombudsman Merceditas
Gutierrez for her alleged inaction on cases involving Arroyo. Gutierrez
succumbed to pressure and resigned.
The Speaker noted the decision to impeach Corona was arrived at by
"an overwhelming number" or almost two-thirds of the 284-member House.
Senatorial bet
Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada has another suggestion to Corona – to resign and run for senator instead.
Tañada, a party mate of President Aquino in the Liberal Party, said
Corona's remarks before court personnel on Wednesday sounded like a
"campaign speech."
He said the Chief Justice cannot remain as head of the Supreme Court
and the entire judiciary and continue delivering political speeches.
He should quit the judiciary and run for the Senate in 2013, he said.
At the same time, Tañada criticized judges and court personnel
throughout the country for walking out of their offices or engaging in a
sit-down strike on Wednesday in sympathy with their chief.
"It is not fair for them to punish the people just so they can show
support for Justice Corona. I appreciate the sentiment of loyalty, but
who are they really hurting here? Litigants who were not apprised of
this unceremonious proclamation of a holiday have already paid their
lawyers for the appearance and have themselves spent time and effort to
make it to court, only to be refused," he said.
"Closing down our courts is infinitely more damaging than any
so-called constitutional crisis. In fact, the continued operation of our
courts is so essential to the existence of our government that not even
during the period of martial law did they ever close down, not even for
a day," he said.
Another congressman, Teddy Casiño of Bayan Muna, said he and his
militant colleagues supported Corona's impeachment to make him
accountable for "protecting" Arroyo "from prosecution."
"Impeachment is the manner in which we show the people that even the
highest executive official, our constitutional commissioners, and yes,
even the gods in Padre Faura, are always accountable to the people and
cannot rise above them. This is not an attack on the Supreme Court by
its enemies. This is an attack by the people's elected representatives
on those who would use the Court for evil, selfish ends," he said.
"We supported the impeachment complaint because we believe that the
judiciary should be independent and not kowtow to the whims and caprice
of the executive (branch). We do not want the Arroyo court to become an
Aquino court. That is the last thing we want to do. We want the Supreme
Court to be independent and to be the bastion of justice that it is
supposed to be," he said.
Also yesterday, Department of National Defense spokesman Peter Paul
Rueben Galvez said the Armed Forces is maintaining its neutrality in the
wake of the brewing battle between the executive branch and the
judiciary. - With Edu Punay, Paolo Romero, Jess Diaz, Jaime Laude, Delon Porcalla
FROM THE TRIBUNE
POLITICAL PLOT TO IMPEACH CJ
Noynoy out to reclaim Luisita through CJ's impeach EXCLUSIVE By Charlie V. Manalo and Virgilio J Bugaoisan 12/16/2011
Vengeance
aside, the real agenda behind the impeachment of Supreme Court (SC)
Chief Justice Renato Corona is to prevent the 6,000-hectare Hacienda
Luisita from being distributed to its tenant-farmers by pricing it far
beyond the capacity to pay of the farmers, a reliable Tribune source
said.
Informed that the plot to impeach Corona was set, Transportation and
Communications Secretary Mar Roxas, the source also said, quickly seized
the opportunity and threw in his support for Senior Associate Justice
Antonio Carpio.
Roxas has a pending electoral protest against Vice President Jejomar
Binay before the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) which is composed
of the SC justices sitting en banc.
According to the source, Roxas wants Carpio to immediately convene
the PET once he is appointed Chief Justice and uphold his protest,
declaring him winner over Binay.
Carpio, for his part, the source alleged, invited members of Congress
to his condominium unit in Makati to solicit their support for Corona's
impeachment.
According to the source, a member of a bloc in the Lower House and a
known leftist party list congressman, also visited Carpio in his
condominium unit and pledged the support of his group, which is said to
command at least two million supporters nationwide.
He is one of the congressmen who signed the impeachment complaint without reading the Articles of Impeachment.
The support of this bloc is needed by Carpio, said the source as
these leftist groups can easily mobilize their group in the event of a
public backlash on the Corona impeachment.
It is common knowledge that Carpio has been eyeing the top seat of the High Court.
With the numbers of lawmakers and an organized group already assured,
the source further alleged that maximum media exposure aimed at
building public opinion against Corona, is to be provided by at least
one of the country's leading national dailies.
"It will be like hitting two birds with one stone," said the source.
"The Cojuangco-Aquinos retaining ownership of Hacienda Luisita and
Secretary Mar Roxas taking over Vice President Binay."
"And that is aside from President Aquino finally having his vengeance on Arroyo and Corona."
The Tribune source said that the plot to oust Corona was hatched at
the Bahay Matanda, the ancestral house of the Cojuangcos after elderly
members of the Cojuangco clan reportedy berated President Aquino for
attacking members of the High Court which they believe was the reason
the SC justices revoked the stock distribution option and ordered the
distribution of the sugar estate to its tenants.
"From the time of (President Ramon) Magsasay, the hacienda land was
never lost. When Martial Law came, we still did not lose our land. GMA
(Gloria Arroyo) and Cory had a fight during GMA's presidency, we
Cojuangcos still did not lose our land. Now that that you (Noynoy) are
president, we lose the hacienda!", the Tribune source quoted an elderly
Cojuangco as he berated Aquino in the vernacular.
"You are the reason for our loss of the hacienda, because even the
Supreme Court you had to fight with!," the elderly Cojuangco was further
quoted as telling the President.
Even before Aquino assumed the presidency, he had already openly
expressed his displeasure over Corona, even refusing to be administered
into office by the Chief Justice, whom he describes as one of Arroyo's
midnight appointee.
Aquino's verbal attacks against Corona and the Supreme Court became
more pronounced after the High Court issued a temporary restraining
order (TRO) on the watch list order issued by Justice Secretary Leila de
Lima against Mrs. Arroyo, barring her from leaving the country to seek
medical treatment.
According to the source, the Cojuangcos had arrived at a plan to oust
Corona and have him replaced by Justice Carpio. With the Corona
impeachment still fresh on the minds of the remaining justices, the
threat of being their impeached will again be used against them to force
them to support the dissenting opinion of Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno
which states that the land price of Hacienda Luisita should be pegged at
the market value in 2008, which could amount to P2.5 million per
hectare based on the P500 million sale of 200 hectares of the disputed
sugar estate which was converted into an industrial estate.
At P2.5 million per hectare, no one among the 6,296
farmer-beneficiaries of Luisita would be able to avail of the land, thus
the vast sugar estate would remain a property of the Cojuangco-Aquino
clan.
Corona and the rest of the justices want the land price of Hacienda
Luisita pegged at the 1989 level which is about P40,000 to P70,000 per
hectare.
But with the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads, the SC
justices would have no option but to heed the whims of the President.
"It is for that reason that a senior member of Congress had revealed
that two more justices are to be impeached next year. They are already
threatening the members of the Supreme Court," the source said.
The other day, Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas was quoted over a radio
interview they are contemplating on impeaching two more SC justices whom
he refused to name.
He however later backtracked saying they will not as yet file any
impeachment case against any of the SC justices appointed by Arroyo as
things have been overtaken by events.
The fight between Aquino and Corona is personal to the President.
That was the keyword used by Aquino's key allies in the House of
Representatives to ensure that they would manage to muster 188
signatures and railroad the filing of an impeachment case against the
Chief Justice in just a matter of hours.
According to a source in the House of Representatives, prior to the
President's "green light" to launch the signature campaign to impeach
Corona, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales
Jr were summoned by Aquino to a restaurant in Greenhills, San Juan.
Aquino reportedly talked to them for less than 15 minutes and left.
The source said that Gonzales and Belmonte immediately contacted
Liberal Party stalwarts and gave the order to start getting the
signatures needed to secure the impeachment of Corona.
The source said that to ensure little resistance even from those who
could be in favor of the impeachment but wanted to do it without haste,
Gonzales and other LP stalwarts who were tasked to "spread the word"
about the impeachment made sure that their message was very clear: the
president wants their signature so bad that he would definitely take it
against them if they would not sign.
The source said that knowing Aquino as vengeful and a control-freak,
many of the congressmen had no choice but to sign the 56-page articles
of impeachment even without really reading its contents.
"Well at least we got to eat ha kao (shrimp dumplings)," said the
source referring to the food served during the all-majority caucus held
at the Edsa Shangri-la the following day.
The source denied however that money changed hands in exchange for
their signatures but admitted that Aquino used psychological force to
ensure that Corona is impeached in the House of Representatives.
" Knowing PNoy, we are very sure that our constituents in our
districts would most certainly suffer if we did not sign the articles of
impeachment because Malacañang would find every excuse to make sure
that our entitlements are not released. His fight against Corona is
truly personal," the sources said.
True enough, Batangas Rep. Hermilando Mandanas, became the instant
casualty of Aquino's wrath after he was unceremoniously removed as ways
and means chairman.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Bar Association, which is headed by Simeon
Marcelo who is a partner of a law firm identified with Carpio, issued a
statement saying that the PBA fully believes in the constitutionality of
the impeachment proceedings against the Chief Justice, contrary to some
claims that it is just part of a demolition campaign against him.
In a statement, the PBA said that it views Corona's impeachment by
the House of Representatives on the strength of the signatures of 188
members of Congress "as the constitutionally ordained process which
epitomizes the Rule of Law at work."
The statement continued: "It will allow the issues to be properly
ventilated in a sober and orderly proceeding where guilt or innocence is
weighed and determined on their true merit and not on the basis of an
open competition to win public opinion."
"The national association of lawyers in the country said that: "Let
all accusations be ventilated and heard in this constitutional process
and let it not be undermined by any quarter. In keeping with its
cherished traditions, the PBA will remain vigilant in ensuring that the
Rule of Law will prevail over those who would seek to undermine it.
"At the end at the end of the day, the Constitution provides
mechanisms for the resolution of these disputes under the Rule of Law.
On this premise, the PBA Chief Justice Corona is entitled to defend
himself in the appropriate forum where he must be accorded the respect
due his high office.
"Corona has been tagged a "midnight appointee" after the post of
Chief Justice was given him by outgoing President Arroyo one week after
the May 2010 elections, in violation of the Constitutional provision
against appointments two months before any election.
"The Chief Justice has also been tagged in the Articles of
Impeachment as highly biased in favor of Arroyo, whom he served as chief
of staff, spokesperson, chief legal counsel and acting executive
secretary.
"Corona has also been questioned for favoring Arroyo in 19 cases
which had reached the Supreme Court involving her or her
administration."
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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