Corona’s Cheek
I found it difficult to listen to the lengthy remarks of Renato Corona, besieged Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who on the 40th day of the impeachment trial had taken the stand as a witness for the defense. I was primed to have the witness be treated as a witness, one who would be primed by the defense counsel with questions that would allow his client to present his side favorably, with testimony that would be weighed against the evidence that had been presented previously, and then to be cross-examined by the opposing counsel.
Instead, Corona took advantage of the impeachment court’s generous indulgence and spent the entire afternoon, a total of three hours, to finish a prepared speech. Despite efforts of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile to check the Chief Justice’s use of the time, Corona used the impeachment court as a platform for his personal testimony for himself, presenting himself as an underdog who had been the object of President (Benigno S. III) Aquino’s vindictive politics. He charged media for having served the purposes of black propaganda, even as he himself spoke ill of a dead relative.
He showed no documents, except a letter supposedly written to him by his daughter to report on the auction of disputed family property, and then brandished what he described as a waiver that would allow the full examination of all his accounts. But, he required as a condition, that all 188 representatives who signed the impeachment complaint and the senator judge Franklin Drilon to sign the same!
Everything else in Corona’s prepared statements were claims of how he saw the situation, his claim that his dollar accounts were protected by law with confidentiality, which he reasoned excluded these from his (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Networth) SALN. If there were any issues about his SALN, he dismissed these as non-impeachable.
So the witness was allowed to pronounce judgment on himself. He is innocent. He is the victim. Then, referring to himself, in the third person, said, “The Chief Justice of the Republic of the Philippines wishes to be excused.” Without further word, he did walk out. As has become quite common in recent political history, he then claimed to be suffering from a medical condition, and soon he and his party were transported to the Medical City, which notably, is not the closest hospital to the location.
Gut reactions to his speech and appearance probably reflect personal judgments already made about the fitness of the Chief Justice to continue in this high office, based on the evidence that one had already seen and heard.
I was not swept off by the brilliance of his performance. It was quite painful to see. The forced pause for emotional effect, for example, left me high and dry. His claims did not demolish any of the evidence previously presented, because these were his claims, without corroborating testimony nor documentary evidence to support the claim with credibility.
My doubts about the man were seeded by the original decision to accept the appointment to the position of Chief Justice as a “midnight appointment.” That appointment was naturally shadowed by controversy. Two other senior justices had earlier announced they would not accept an appointment from the outgoing president. Corona, who bore known close and strong ties to (Gloria Macapagal) Arroyo, kept his silence. He was chief of staff of then President Arroyo and was appointed by the same president to the Supreme Court. He accepted the appointment to the position of Chief Justice, without any hesitation.
At the time, the newly elected president was asked to temper his prerogatives to avoid a constitutional crisis. By 2011, the Corona Supreme Court had countered various anti-corruption initiatives to favor Arroyo.
INTERACTIVE: The Chief Justice's '19-0' votes for Arroyo | by Jojo Malig for abs-cbnNEWS.com
Clearly, we were headed for a clash. As the hearings in the Senate drew attention to un-disclosed bank accounts, in peso and or dollar, the Supreme Court where he was still presiding promulgated a temporary restraining order to the Impeachment Court from further probing into the Corona dollar accounts in the Philippine Savings Bank (PSB), with the eloquent dissenting opinion of Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno.
Media reports (Rappler) quickly cited inconsistencies in Corona’s claims and the well known and documented reality of the Chief Justice’s lifestyle. I guess, in Corona’s mind, it would not be relevant to hold up to judgment the pleasures of life he can charge to judicial accounts. (Center for Media Freedom & Responsibility) CMFR’s draft study of the trial traces contradictory statements that the chief justice made about his bank accounts, his properties as well as the issues involved in the family corporation, Basa-Guidote Enterprises, Inc.
Today, the defense counsel said they would present nothing further to support the statements made by the Chief Justice and that Corona’s testimony be taken on the basis of his credibility. Such presumption!
His appearance in the Senate impeachment court has displayed once again the Corona cheek; not the other cheek offered for full reparation or appeasement. But the cheek of arrogance and entitlement. Corona did what he did because he is sure or feels sure that he can get away with it. If one supplies the drama and histrionics, maybe people can be distracted from substantive questions.
Putting it all together, one wonders indeed, at the quality of “cheek” and the fitness of a man for a position that puts him as the foremost arbiter of law.
I am disappointed that so far, there has been less discussion of how the impeachment process involves an evaluation of the public official’s “fitness” for office, and the loss or “betrayal of trust”—of public trust. I am not sure that the impeachment process needs to stick, or to hold as lawyers tend to do, to the technicalities of the offense, deviation, or negligence.
This larger question has found some answers, I think, in the conduct of the Chief Justice in the impeachment court where he has been on trial for the last five months.
Thank you for writing this. Well written truth.
I found it difficult to read this lengthy article.
Only a senator who is completely blind to the blatant evil doings of corona or a senator who also shares in the largesse of gloria will absolve corona.