On the Chief Justice

BY DUCKY PAREDES

MALAYA

‘Of course, Gloria was never Atty. Corona’s client. She was much more than that to Atty. Corona. She was his boss!’

WHAT’S wrong with Chief Justice Renato Corona having served as Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s chief of staff and spokesman when she was still vice-president? If she had been a client of Atty. Renato Corona, Justice Renato Corona would have been forced by legal ethics and delicadeza to inhibit himself in any case that involved her.

Of course, Gloria was never Atty. Corona’s client. She was much more than that to Atty. Corona. She was his boss! When she was Vice President, he served as her Chief of Staff. When she became President, he was again Chief of Staff, Executive Secretary and, later, Presidential Legal Counsel before being appointed as a Justice in the Supreme Court. Then, in violation of the Constitution that explicitly prohibits an outgoing President to still make appointments in the few weeks prior to leaving the post, Gloria appointed Renato as Chief Justice.

So, what’s wrong with Corona having worked with Gloria in Malacañang? Plenty, if you ask civil society groups, the religious sector and even Sen. Franklin Drilon.

They want one thing – for Corona to inhibit in cases involving Gloria Arroyo because they believe he cannot be objective and impartial.

They are probably right but one cannot imagine that the Chief Justice, who loves to get on his high horse to look down on those who oppose him, will heed their call. Instead, he will probably insist the Supreme Court looks out for the little man’s rights (and that little woman’s rights as well).

Corona and Arroyo go a long way back. Thus, she made sure that her legal adviser would be at the helm of the High Tribunal even as she was already on her way out of Malacañang.

Corona was appointed by Arroyo as chief justice in May 2010, just before the presidential election, thus making him a “midnight appointee”—one among very many, including her manicurist and gardener, who were named to plum government posts.

That alone should send alarm bells ringing as to Corona’s impartiality.

As it has sent shivers of apprehension down the spines of members of civil society, especially that Corona’s term is up to 2018 well after PNoy would have ceased to be President. Thus, any conviction that a lower court may impose on Gloria could easily be reversed by her Renato!

Convinced that Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona cannot be truly objective and impartial, leaders of the Bantay Gloria Network recently filed a petition demanding that Corona inhibit himself from cases involving his former boss and benefactor.

The group, led by former Akbayan representative Risa Hontiveros, Leah Navarro of the Black and White movement, truth crusader Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada and Juan Tejano, student council president of the UP College of Social Science and Philosophy, say that Corona’s close relationship with Arroyo undermines the high tribunal’s integrity in handling the cases lodged against her.

“Corona should inhibit himself from the process to give the SC a sense of impartiality and objectivity while letting justice run its course. We believe ‘CoronArroyo’ should get out of the way of justice and temporarily relinquish his ‘corona’ as the people fulfill the campaign to make Arroyo pay for her crimes.

“The entire nation is looking at the SC to decide a very crucial issue involving the accountability of Arroyo. A ‘CoronArroyo’ involved in handling the cases against the Arroyos will make the full and impartial dispensation of justice highly questionable and undermine the rule of law in this country,” Hontiveros explained.

The religious community also asks for Corona’s inhibition in Gloria’s cases. Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines joined calls for Corona and other Arroyo appointees in the Supreme Court to inhibit themselves from deliberations on Arroyo’s cases.

Sister Mary John Mananzan, AMRSP chair, said Corona and the other Arroyo-appointed justices’ partiality might be questionable considering they might still feel beholden to Arroyo and might compromise their objectivity.

(I believe that Sister Mary John’s suggestion would stymie the Court. If 8 out of 15 justices inhibit, how could the SC decide anything. Also would PNoy’s appointees also – to be fair – have to inhibit? Who then would decide any cases?)

As Sen. Drilon also points out, Corona has always sided with Arroyo in various cases: “The current score is 19-0. Chief Justice Renato Corona consistently voted in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in all 19 cases brought before the Supreme Court. He never voted against her.

“I reiterate my call for Corona’s inhibition in cases involving former President Arroyo because the Chief Justice’s consistent voting pattern in all 19 cases involving the Arroyo government’s controversial policies have created doubts in the public’s mind about his impartiality.”

The 19 cases Drilon mentioned covered the years from 2004 to 2010.

The 2010 cases include the Dec. 7, 2010 SC ruling declaring President Aquino’s order creating the Truth Commission unconstitutional; the Oct. 10, 2010 SC decision stopping the Aquino administration from revoking the appointment of alleged midnight appointees of Arroyo,; and the April 7, 2010 SC ruling denying the petition of then Sen. Benigno Aquino and upholding Republic Act 9716 creating the First and Second Districts of Camarines Sur.

Corona cannot afford to ignore the growing clamor for him to inhibit from hearing Arroyo’s cases.

From the parliament of the streets to the sacred chambers of the church to the halls of the Senate, the overwhelming sentiment is for Corona to cease and desist from using his lofty position to defend Arroyo at all costs and save her from the gallows.

What are you waiting for, Mr. Chief Justice? Probably for the calls for him to inhibit to stop? He’s on top of the heap now until 2018, and, if we want him to stop doing favors for his former boss, someone may have to impeach him! Would an impeachment against a Chief Justice succeed? Why not? Eventually, it may have to come to that! There’s always a first time for everything!

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