Mongaya: Do you trust Corona as chief justice?

Sunday, January 22, 2012

WITH so many stories, published and unpublished, about corruption in the judiciary circulating through the years, I believe the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona has become crucial in restoring our people’s faith in this important branch of our government.

As a political process, the impeachment court composed of senator-jurors has the important task of determining whether Corona is beyond reproach as head the highest court of the Philippines.

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Can we Filipinos, from our lofty senators down to ordinary citizens like us, trust the man named Renato Corona as head of the highest arbiter of justice in the land? I want to confidently answer this question myself.

Monitoring the live coverage of the first four days of the impeachment trial, however, left me with more doubt. The reason is not the goofs of prosecution senators. On the contrary, the valiant efforts of court veterans headed by former justice Serafin Cuevas focused on keeping evidence from the court and the public.

For instance, Cuevas and company first tried but failed to stop the turnover of Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). They are now trying to prevent the introduction of more evidence that will show whether the entries in Corona’s SALN are truthful or not.

How will we know for sure if Chief Justice Corona submitted a SALN that truly reflected his assets, liabilities and net worth if the prosecution is prevented from introducing evidences? How will we be sure that he did not amass ill-gotten wealth and is all the while true to his oath if Cuevas succeeds?

The Cuevas defense strategy is not unlike the efforts of pro-Estrada senators during the impeachment trial of former president Erap. The pro-Estrada senators succeeded in preventing the opening of the second envelope containing crucial evidences. It led to Edsa 2 and nine long years of a corrupt Arroyo presidency.

Why couldn’t Cuevas and company just allow the prosecution to introduce all their evidences and then produce counter-evidences that will prove the accusers wrong?

Cuevas insisted that the articles of impeachment only accused Corona of not submitting and disclosing his SALN. Using legal technicalities, he does not want the prosecution, the impeachment court and the Filipino people to determine whether Corona submitted a SALN with truthful entries. Basta na-submit lang, human!

Perhaps, and this is the reason for my doubts on Corona, the defense finds it more difficult to plug holes in Corona’s SALN.

Consider, for instance, Corona’s Bellagio penthouse. The Chief Justice said he bought the plush property in Global City, Taguig, in 2004 for P14.5 million by installment. The Taguig Register of Deeds produced a deed of absolute sale, dated Dec. 16, 2009. But Corona’s 2010 statement only reflected P6 million.

Another deed of sale likewise showed that Corona bought a unit in Bonifacio Ridge on Oct. 14, 2005 at P9.159 million. This was reflected only in Corona’s 2010 SALN and valued at P2.369 million. Usapa na!

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Cebu’s lamppost scandal has taken a significant twist when it reached the Sandiganbayan. Maybe, this is because the situation has changed. There is already a new ombudsman and some Manila journalists are taking a fresh look at the case uninfluenced by the local media brouhaha years ago.

I was a lonely voice back then. Most considered the signatures of then mayors Teddy Ouano and Boy Radaza in the Program of Works and Estimates (Powe) as the smoking gun.

But I asked: If then mayor Tommy Osmeña did not sign the Powe, why were lampposts installed in Cebu City? Why were those who actually approved the transaction not charged? Could it be that the two mayors and local DPWH employees were merely scapegoats to save national officials who were the actual culprits?

After reading several Manila columnists who looked into the involvement of national officials in a national project implemented in Cebu, I now suspect that the lamppost cases against local officials were part of a damage control operation under former ombudsman Merciditas Gutierrez.

And the grapevine in the local ombudsman’s office know who is Gutierrez’ point person here. I will not be surprised if cases will soon be filed against this point person.

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Congratulations to Don Bosco Cebu jubilarians that included my batch `77 during the alumni homecoming yesterday. It was unfortunate that an urgent trip and hitches in the return prevented me from joining. I understand that next year, we will mark the 50th year since then Don Bosco Boys’ Town produced the first batch of graduates. See you then.

(inbetweencolumns.wordpress.com)