Chief Justice (CJ) Renato Corona may have reached the pinnacle of his law career, but the laurel wreath of success he is seemingly wearing on his head is becoming a crown of thorns that is painfully and embarrassingly piercing his skull, the manner the impeachment trial against him is going.
On the issue alone that is presently being deliberated in the Senate impeachment court pertaining to the second article of impeachment, which is that – 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 UNDERSEC. 17, ART. XI OF THE 1987 CONSTITUTION – enough has been said and seen in the court room that should weigh heavily against CJ Corona’s favor.
The saga of his peso bank accounts, both in the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) and the Bank Of the Philippine Islands (BPI), are so full of holes that the adverse reaction of people following the trial towards Corona and the negative impact it has on his credibility and integrity does not bode well to his continued existence as head of the Supreme Court (SC), which is supposed to be composed of honorable justices.
What added utter distastefulness to the situation is the manner by which PSBank president Pascual Garcia III was stolidly trying to protect its highly valued client.
Also, it only made people wonder more the kind of person and public servant Corona is, when he shamelessly sought the intervention of the SC to prevent his dollar account from being divulged during the trial, which the senator-judges were pressuring Garcia to do.
Thus, with a vote of 8-5, a temporary restraining order (TRO) was issued by the SC giving weight to the provisions of Republic Act 6426, or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act of the Philippines, which prohibits the disclosure of contents of bank accounts without the written permission of the depositor.
This decision by the SC prompted President Benigno Aquino, PNoy, to say: “Those who committed an injustice should not find refuge in this particular law.”
And rightly so!
It will be noted that the prosecution panel is accusing Corona of having dollar accounts in one of the branches of PSBank in the whopping amount of $700,000 or around P34 million, which allegedly not declared in the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of the judiciary chief.
If CJ Corona is clean, has nothing to hide, and can explain/ justify that what money he has stashed safely in the banks, whether local or foreign currency, are not ill-gotten, why can’t he be open about it? Why can’t he allow transparency to rule?
The senate impeachment court is suppose to vindicate, nay, clean his soiled image, yet in the process he is being pictured as wallowing in the sty of corrupt practices betraying the public trust in him. Worst, still, he has stained the integrity of the judiciary that is supposed to be the bastion of fairness, honesty and equality.
If the chief magistrate of the land can’t be trusted, what gives the lesser lights of justices and judges the moral ascendancy to be trusted as well?
Where and whom shall we seek justice from?
Today, it is a TRO barring the disclosure by banks of any information relating to foreign currency deposits allegedly owned by CJ Corona.
Will tomorrow be another TRO prayed by the chief justice for his court to issue, stopping the impeachment trial all together?
What a bummer!
And who says Corana doesn’t deserve to have a thorny crown on his head?
