President Benigno Aquino III has had it with Chief Justice Renato Corona. He
sees the magistrate as a stumbling block to his program of reforms. Last Dec.
12 Aquino’s allies in the House of Representatives impeached Corona.
It was bound to happen.
Corona is a close ally of former leader Gloria Arroyo. He had served her as
chief of staff, spokesman, legal adviser and, briefly, executive secretary. She
appointed him later to the Supreme Court.
Mrs. Arroyo installed Corona as Chief Justice in the dying days of her
term as President, presumably as her chief gatekeeper to forestall the
anticipated legal battles she would have to fight as soon as she was out of the
presidency.
Corona’s appointment was controversial. There is a prohibition in the
Constitution that no appointment, except for temporary ones in the executive
branch of government, was allowed before any election. And, traditionally,
appointments are left to the newly elected President as a courtesy.
Arroyo designated Corona Chief Justice within this forbidden period, and is
considered a “midnight” appointee.
More senior justices, notably Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, were bypassed
by Corona’s appointment.
At that time, President-elect Aquino announced he wouldn’t recognize
Corona as Chief Justice because of his unconstitutional appointment. Aquino
would later relent and kept quiet as Corona assumed the Chief Justiceships.
But, as his way of showing his disagreement and non-recognition of
Corona’s appointment, Aquino broke from tradition and didn’t ask Corona to
administer the presidential oath to him but instead asked an associate justice,
Conchita Carpio-Morales, to do the honors.
The controversy seemed to die after that and all went about with their
respective official tasks.
Until recently when, out of the blue, the President began attacking Corona,
the first time even in the very presence of the Chief Justice. Aquino accused
Corona of protecting Mrs. Arroyo from her legal predicaments, citing Corona’s
consistent votes favouring Arroyo in Supreme Court decisions.
Apparently, the straw that broke the camel’s back in terms of Corona’s pro-
Arroyo votes was when Mrs. Arroyo wanted to leave for medical treatment
abroad. The Aquino government barred Arroyo from leaving but the Supreme
Court upheld Mrs. Arroyo’s right to travel, issuing a TRO (Temporary
Restraining Order) nullifying the Aquino government’s travel ban against
Arroyo.
The Aquino government had feared that once Arroyo was abroad, she
wouldn’t return anymore to face the charges against her. Mr. Aquino accused
Corona and the Supreme Court of aiding Arroyo to evade the law by going
abroad. That would have put to naught the Aquino government’s efforts to
make Arroyo face the charges against her for alleged wrongdoing.
Quietly, Aquino rallied his allies in the House of Representatives to impeach
the Chief Justice. (As in the United States, impeachment cases emanate from
the House.) Voicing his dissatisfaction with Corona in earlier public speeches,
Aquino lined up his troops. In a matter of hours, the impeachment complaint
was signed by 188 of the 285 congressmen, automatically making it ready to
be sent to the upper chamber, the Senate, which tries impeached officials.
Thus, the battle and the battleground have been chosen. The impeachment
trial is set for mid-January, after the congressional Christmas break.
Impeachment is a seldom-used method of getting rid of officials deemed
unfit. The last major official to be impeached and tried was President Joseph
Estrada, whose trial ended abruptly when government prosecutors walked out
over a dispute on the opening of sealed evidence. The trial spilled over to the
streets from the impeachment trial court to the court of public opinion, which
ruled against Estrada. He was chased out of office by the nation’s second
People Power “revolution.”
Chief Justice Corona will put up a fight. He is said to be lining up the
country’s best legal practitioners to defend him. The prosecutors will come
from the impeaching body, the House of Representatives.
Come mid-January the populace will be riveted again to their television sets
watching Corona’s trial. Who will win, who will lose? Will Corona get the boot
or will Aquino lose face by losing the impeachment battle?
It’s hard to predict. Traditionally, a sitting President gets to control the
Lower House through party defections and other manoeuvrings.
But the Senate is a different kettle of fish. Voted into office by a national
vote, senators are national officials, compared to congressmen who are voted
by district. As such, senators feel somewhat at par with the President.
Thus they are very independent and don’t always toe the President’s line.
They’re temperamental and even petulant when displeased. Mr. Aquino will
have to know how to massage the gigantic senatorial egos in order to get his
desired result at the impeachment.
The nation’s attention will be distracted by the trial come January. Let’s
hope it won’t drag on forever. Because if it turns out to be an interminable
slog, the nation’s business will come to a full stop. Even less work will be
done and the nation will suffer.
***
Happy New Year to BALITA’s faithful readers! Special greetings
to the Cusipag Family and the paper’s able complement of
editors, writers and staff. And may there be more peace rather than
conflict around the world.