Pro-impeachment lawyers ‘not afraid’ of SC backlash

Sunday, December 18, 2011

LAWYERS who signed the manifesto supporting the Corona impeachment are confident that the Supreme Court (SC), with its power to cite in contempt those who defy its “authority, justice and dignity,” will respect their views.

This, even though the High Court is consolidating support for its embattled leader, ordering a court holiday in Manila last week so judges and court employees at the capital could attend a gathering and hear the chief justice speak against his impeachment.

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“We are merely declaring our support to conducting a process of law,” said Atty. Democrito Barcenas, chairman of the Cebu Coalition of People Power Volunteers for Reform (CCPVR).

Resolution of support

The group, composed of lawyers and businessmen, issued a two-page resolution expressing their “full support” to the President’s anti-graft campaign and to “legally and constitutionally remove all stumbling blocks that impede his honest and serious efforts.”

In the open forum that followed the signing, one journalist asked if Barcenas and Atty. Ronald Paquiano, the CCPPVR secretary general, expect to be disbarred.
“Why should we be disbarred when we are merely expressing a view?” Barcenas said.

“No criticism can destroy the SC, only the justices themselves can destroy the SC and we, the people, the repository of the authority of this government, we have the duty to protect the SC,” Paquiano said.

Moreover, the CCPPVR resolu tion does not speak of the court itself, only its head magistrate.

“The impeachment... is a case against certain specific acts of Chief Justice Cororna and must not be mistakenly viewed as an assault against the SC or the entire judiciary as an institution,” it read.

Atty. Alex Tolentino was also present during the signing and presentation of the resolution last Friday. His signature was not in the copy of the document journalists obtained from Barcenas and CCPPVR executive director Edgar Comeros.

The resolution did not declare the CCPPVR’s sentiment towards Corona. It indicated how the President felt and how the group supports his views.

“Whereas it is the honest conviction of President Aquino that Chief Justice Corona is the stumbling block to his drive for reform because of the latter’s closeness to his former boss, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as confirmed by his undisputed track record in the SC (such as) how he consistently voted in all high-profile cases involving the former president,” according to the resolution.