Solons take less than a day for Articles to be sent to Senate
BY WENDELL VIGILIA
MALAYA
MALAYA
IN one fell swoop, the House of Representatives yesterday tackled an impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Renato Corona, gathered almost double the number of signatures required by the Constitution, and moved to send the complaint to the Senate.
Corona was impeached in just about five hours.
As of 8 p.m., there were 188 signatories to the impeachment complaint which was drafted by the justice committee and presented only yesterday during a hastily-called majority caucus.
The House needed only 95 signatories to automatically send the complaint to the Senate for trial because the Constitution requires only one-third of the 285 members of the House of Representatives.
Making history, the House reached a consensus to impeach Corona after the three-hour caucus during which congressmen, led by Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr., signed the impeachment complaint.
The complaint was presented by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., justice panel chair, during the caucus which was attended by members of President Aquino’s Liberal Party, the Nationalist People’s Coalition, the Nacionalista Party, the National Unity Party, and party-list groups.
The caucus started at 2:30 p.m.
At past 7:30 p.m., the House in plenary ordered secretary general Marilyn Yap to immediately transmit the complaint to the Senate.
Siquijor Rep. Orlando Fua tried to delay the proceedings by asking presiding officer Rep. Arnulfo Fuentebella of Camarines Sur to read the complaint but majority leader Neptali Gonzales opposed the move, saying the matter is “non-debatable.”
Gonzales said the matter of sending the complaint to the Senate for trial is just a “ministerial” duty on the part of the secretary general.
Ruling, Fuentebella declared Fua out of order and ordered Yap to transmit the complaint to the Senate.
The abbreviated impeachment process came as a surprise because the complaint got majority of the signatures, about 140, only during the caucus which ended at about 5:30 p.m. In past impeachment proceedings, it took months to gather signatures.
The complaint was based on three grounds: betrayal of public trust; culpable violation of the Constitution; and graft and corruption.
Belmonte belied talks President Aquino ordered him and other House leaders to expedite Corona’s impeachment but said Aquino was aware of what was happening.
“Yes, he knew because he asked us what was our (plan) and we said we will call a caucus today,” he told reporters after the caucus. “I, myself, texted him that we have passed the one third (requirement) and later on we will transmit (to the Senate). Ang sabi lang niya, ‘Thanks.’”
Earlier yesterday after the caucus, Gonzales said, “Formality na lang ang kailangan before we can say he is impeached. Pero ang totoo niyan, it’s all over but the shouting.”
Tupas said Corona’s impeachment was a “done deal” waiting for formality in the plenary.
Minority leader Edcel Lagman called the majority’s move the “mother of all blackmails,” saying those who signed the complaint were obviously threatened of being deprived of their congressional allocations or pork barrel funds.
“The Supreme Court justices are being blackmailed not to decide pending cases against the Aquino administration. Otherwise, the wrath of impeachment will be on them. We hope the senators who will act as impeachment judges will be strong and judicious not to succumb to similar blackmails,” he said.
Before the plenary decided to send the complaint to the Senate, Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, justice panel vice chair, told reporters, “Technically, after the plenary takes up the matter on the floor and resolve the automatic transmittal to the Senate, then he (Corona) is impeached.”
The complaint was anchored on Corona’s “midnight appointment” and his alleged partiality in deciding in cases involving Rep. Gloria Arroyo who appointed Corona to the top SC post in May last year shortly before she stepped down from the presidency.
Before the SC, Corona served as Arroyo’s spokesman when she was vice president, then presidential chief of staff, presidential spokesman and acting executive secretary.
The complaint quoted Newsbreak magazine’s report that Corona “lodged a high 78 percent in favor of Arroyo” which showed his voting pattern in cases like Biraogo vs. The Philippine Truth Commission; revoking Arroyo’s midnight appointments in Bai Omera D. Dianalan-Lucman vs. Executive; Aquino vs. Comelec on redefining districts of Camarines Sur.
It said Corona violated the Constitution, betrayed public trust and committed graft when he did not file his statement of assets and liabilities and net worth, as required by the Constitution.
The complainants accused Corona of having ill-gotten wealth, “acquiring assets of high values and keeping bank accounts with huge deposits, including among others, a 300 sq. meter apartment in The Fort, Taguig City.
Other cases are Corona’s alleged flip-flopping decision on the case of the Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines vs. the Philippine Airlines, and dismissal of the Vizconde massacre case.
It said Corona violated the principle of immutability of final judgments known to have been instigated through personal letters or ex-parte communications addressed to the respondents of the following cases: League of Cities vs. Comelec which involved the creation of 16 municipalities; Navarro vs. Ermita on the promotion of Dinagat Island from municipality to province; and FASAP vs. PAL.
Corona is also being blamed for his wife Cristina’s acceptance of an appointment to the board of John Hay Management Corp. (JHMC) during the time of Arroyo and her promotion as OIC board chair despite complaints of misconduct and negligence by fellow members; his alleged use of the judicial fund “as his own personal expense account, charging to the Judiciary personal expenditures.”
The other High Court decisions being blamed on Corona’s leadership are the issuance of a status quo ante order which temporarily stopped the House from hearing the impeachment complaint against then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez.
Another case is the SC’s decision to clear Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo who was accused of plagiarism in the Vinuya vs. Executive Secretary and the High Court’s upholding of Arroyo’s and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo’s right to travel despite being placed under the government’s watch list order.
Lastly, the House justice panel wants Corona to be held accountable for allegedly failing and refusing to account for the Judiciary Development Fund and Special Allowance for the Judiciary (SAJ) collections.
It said the annual report of the SC noted that unremitted funds to the Bureau of Treasury amounted to P5.38 billion and that the special allowance for judiciary along with the General Fund and the JDF in the amount of P559.5 million were “misstated resulting from delayed and/or non-preparation of bank reconciliation statements and non-recording or uncorrected reconciling items.”
The Senate expressed readiness to convene itself into an impeachment court when the complaint reaches the chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, who chairs the rules committee, said rules for the proceedings have been updated.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile cautioned his colleagues against issuing statements regarding the issue, saying they will be acting as judges in the impeachment court.
But since Congress will adjourn for a holiday break, the Senate as an impeachment tribunal will tackle the complaint when session resumes on January 16.
The Rules of Procedures on Impeachment Trials adopted last year states that when the Senate receives the articles of impeachment, the Senate President will inform the House of Representatives that the “Senate shall take proper order on the subject of impeachment and shall be ready to receive the prosecutors on such time and date as the Senate may specify.”
Enrile would preside in the impeachment proceedings with senators acting as judges. – With JP Lopez
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