All of a sudden, the news world stopped spinning around more important issues like the Ampatuan massacre, ex-president Gloria Arroyo’s pending cases, and Sendong storm victims. All of a sudden, it rotated around an axis called “Chief Justice Renato Corona Impeachment Trial.” All of us, Filipinos, await for one thing – the verdict for this so-called honorable chief justice, whether or not to impeach.
June 16, 2012 marked one of the heaviest days in the history of Philippine governance, because at this day, the Philippines starts to put on trial for impeachment their honorable Chief Justice, Renato Corona. The first day starts when everybody is in their proper places, everybody rises, the Senate President bangs his gavel, and the trial begins. The complaint for impeachment is filed against Corona upon the grounds of Betrayal of Public Trust, Culpable Violation of the Constitution, and Graft and Corruption.
We all hate injustice in the Philippines and for years, we have tried all our best to get rid of it. This is also the same thing that our President Benigno Aquino III is trying to do, aside from removing people appointed by our ex-president Arroyo, left and right. And these appointed people include Chief Justice Corona. Let us try to think about it. Is it maybe, President Benigno Aquino III believes that removing all officials appointed by the alleged injustice ex-president Arroyo, mean also removing the injustice in our country? For the record, even if it means degrading our country by impeaching a chief justice, by means of using movie actors, undergrad politicians, and senators to judge him.
However, of course, let us also examine the other side of the coin. Chief Justice Corona has indeed committed Betrayal of Public Trust and Culpable Violations of the Constitution by merely not declaring some of his wealth in his SALN. One is his 31 million pesos under BPI and PSBank accounts, even if we forgive his 19 million worth of allegedly undeclared wealth which he claims, belongs to his relatives. As chief justice, his monthly salary is only 46,200 pesos including COLA. How on earth can he beget wealth as big as 31 million in just nearly two years of service as chief justice? Chief Justice Corona served at Development Bank of the Philippines and Commercial Bank of Manila before he became chief justice, but even if he accumulated his wealth before he became chief justice, it is still a violation to the law, given that it is not declared.
The fact that ex-president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appointed him just days prior to the presidential election in 2010, will never leave your mind without doubt that there is an anomaly about to come or going on. Who president in his or her right mind is going to appoint an official just days before his or her term ends which is a risk, if he or she will not benefit from it? Some of us may try to deny that is merely imagining our ex-president Arroyo breaking the laws behind our backs, but let us look closely on how she was given consent to travel by the Chief Justice amidst the height of her pending cases.
Everything has been laid out to the public. Some understand, while some do not understand the trial as shown in different television interviews by different networks to the masses that watch the impeachment trial.
However, one heavy thing that we would like to ask the higher officials who handles the trial to do, is that if they impeach Renato Corona, they must make sure that there is enough shown evidence to impeach him. It is because, impeaching a Chief Justice is too big of a deal that by it, our country might be degraded thus it might also lose its credibility, and by losing our credibility let us all expect that other countries that support us, may lose their trust and respect. And if they decide not to impeach Corona, they must also make sure that their decision pays.
Nevertheless, we, the Filipinos are neither ignorants nor fools not to see nor touch nor hear the damage and corruptions made by these so-called honorable high officials. For us, we want them, including Chief Justice Renato Corona down.
No comments:
Post a Comment