IT IS FINAL. A total of 188 members of the House of Representative signed today the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.
The complaint centers on eight articles: (1) betrayal of public trust through a track record of marked of marked partiality and subservience involving the Arroyo administration; (2) culpable violation of the Constitution and/or betrayed public trust arising from failure to disclose to the public the statement of assets, liabilities, and networth; (3) culpable violation of the Constitution and/or betrayed public trust by failing to prove competence, integrity, probity, and independence; (4) betrayal of public trust and/or culpable violation of the Constitution arising from the disregard of the principle of separation of powers on the issuance of status quote ante order against the House over the impeachment of resigned Ombudsman Gutierrez; (5) culpable violation of the Constitution through wanton arbitrariness and partiality in consistently disregarding the principle of res judicata and deciding in favor of gerry-mandering in the cases of 16 newly-created citiies and the promotion of Dinagat into a province; (6) betrayal of public trust by arrogating the authority and jurisdiction of the House in investigating an alleged erring member of the Supreme Court; (7) betrayal of public trust through partiality in granting a TRO in favor of FPGMA, and distorting the SC decision on the effectivity of the TRO, and; (8) betrayal of public trust and/or commission of graft and corruption over failure and refusal to account for the judiciary development fund (JDF) and special allowance for the judiciary (SAJ) collections.
While pro-Arroyo supporters may view this exercise as an assault to the integrity of the Supreme Court, most Filipinos view this as a healthy democracy at work where the House performed its Constitution-mandated role in putting a check on the performance of the other two independent branches of government: the Executive and the Judiciary. And the Congressmen who supported this move deserve a strong applause for doing something to resolve the growing problem in the Supreme Court.
Related Documents
ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT
Article II: Non-Disclosure of, and of properties in, SALN
Bonifacio Ridge Property
Fully paid on April 2004 with total payments of P9.3 million
Disclosed in Corona 2009 SALN with value of P2.3 million
Undisclosed value = P7 million [Read Report]
The Bellagio Tower I Property
Fully paid in 2009 with total payments of P9.5 million
Not disclosed in Corona 2009 SALN [Read Report]
PS Bank Accounts
On 12 December 2011, the day the House of Representatives voted to impeach Corona, closure in three of his time deposit accounts closed through a credit memoranda representing a total amount of P 37 million--P7,397,566.36; P12,988,951.36; and, P17,270,654.97. And this amount was transferred into a newly opened checking account. [Read Report]
DEVELOPMENTS
The lawyers of Chief Justice Corona sought Supreme Court for TRO on the Impeachment Court order to banks to submit Corona account documents [Philippine Daily Inquirer 8 February 2012]
On Day 6 of the Impeachment Trial the discrepancy between the SALNs of Corona and his annual income becomes apparent. For an income of P600,000 annually, his net worth grew more than a million pesos. And in 2010, his net worth jumped by more than P10 million. [InterAksyon 26 January 2012]
Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile nixed Corona team's bid for pretrial. [Philippine Daily Inquirer 13 January 2012]
Senator Josed Estrada find some Corona SALN unusual. SALN 2002-2004 and 2008-2011 were electronically imprinted, and received by a "Juliet." While the SALN 2005-2007 were manually imprinted, and received by a "Berna." [Philippine Daily Inquirer]
Sources
Lira Dalangin-Fernandez, "Latest updates from Congress: 178 solons sign to impeach Corona; 'It's all over but the shouting'" Interaksyon 12 December 2011 [read report]
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