InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5
MANILA – While House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. took pains to point out Monday night that Malacanang had nothing to do with the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the actions and the declared motivations of the proponents of the move may suggest otherwise.
Legislators on Monday afternoon formed a long queue at the Andaya Room in the House of Representatives on Monday to sign the impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice. And after nearly three hours of closed-door caucus, a total of 188 signed the complaint that was later affirmed in plenary.
Half-way through the signing, Belmonte said he texted President Benigno Aquino III, who had often made public his wish to get rid of the Chief Justice for being allegedly obstructionist, to say that “we have passed the one-third (signatures needed).”
“He said, ‘Thanks’,” Belmonte said.
The speaker said Aquino was kept abreast about Monday’s caucus where the legislators discussed the impeachment but stressed that it was the chamber’s own initiative.
“This was not his order but he’s definitely in favor of it,” Belmonte said at a press briefing after the caucus. “We can say he had been talking about this but this is really our own doing but with his full support.”
As if to emphasize his point that every one of those who signed the complaint did so on his or her own volition, Belmonte pointed out that “if you noticed, there was a long queue here. One by one, individually, they signed the complaint.”
The House leader described the impeachment as a “historic decision considering that an overwhelming number of congressmen voted for it.”
There were some initial trepidation on the part of several lawmakers, according to Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II, with some of them questioning Monday’s move because they had yet to read the complaint. Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., the chairman of the justice committee that initiated the impeachment, took the time to explain the issues to his colleagues, many of whom ended up convinced of the grounds for the impeachment.
According to Tupas, he and many of his colleagues considered the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the SC on the watchlist order against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as the “last straw” that made them decide to, as Tupas put it, “go for the kill.”
“That was probably the last straw that made members decide that we can’t expect an impartial Chief Justice,” Tupas said, pointing out that Corona was an Arroyo appointee and had favored the former president overwhelmingly in his votes as Chief Justice. “So we go for the kill,” he said.
Cavite Representative Joseph Emilio Abaya, an official of the Liberal Party that the president heads, also said the TRO was the “last straw.”
The TRO would have allowed Arroyo to leave the country for medical treatment, but Justice Secretary Leila de Lima prevented from leaving, using Department Circular 41 that Arroyo’s own justice secretary had devised.
Tupas told InterAksyon.com that he drafted the impeachment complaint together with Mindoro Oriental Representative Reynaldo Umali and Akbayan partylist Representative Kaka Bag-ao earlier this month, but he said that research started months before. This suggests that the plot to oust him, as Corona called the impeactment move on Monday, had been hatched early on, even before the recent public clashes between him and the president.
“It was a series of events that started with the status quo ante order of the Supreme Court on the impeachment complaint against then Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez,” Tupas explained. “Because of this series of events, we believe we have a case against Chief Justice Corona, and instead of waiting for a deadlock between the executive and the judiciary, going through the process of impeachment is better.”
Bag-ao said Corona proved to be “tough to crack,” gauging from his statements against the executive. She said several options were studied on how to deal with Corona, including the call for him to inhibit, resign and impeachment.
“We reviewed the pattern of bias in favor of former President Arroyo and they were so upfront, very manifest so you will expect him to desperately cling to his post,” Bag-ao said. “He won’t give up that easily.”
In the end, the strong public clamor against Corona – helped no doubt by the open criticisms of him by a very popular president – proved to be the “perfect timing” for the impeachment, Bag-ao said. Of course, she told InterAksyon.com, “we believe we have sufficient evidence against him so this is the best time to go for it.”
Earlier, Malacanang declared that an impeachment complaint against Corona is “an accountability mechanism mandated by the Constitution.”
“Impeachment is a constitutionally mandated process. It is a measure for accountability,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte Monday afternoon. “To equate it with destruction of democracy will be contrary to the fact that it is enshrined in the Constitution. But whether it will happen, we don’t know,” she added.
Valte said she had heard reports that the Liberal Party was gearing up for an impeachment complaint against Corona but said the Palace had nothing to do with it. “Until the president says otherwise, that is an independent action of the Liberal Party. That is their initiative, if it happens,” she said.
Corona on Monday revealed this plot to oust him and to destabilize, he said, the Judiciary. “With the discovery of this scheme that will destroy our democracy, I am forced to call upon you to remain ready and vigilant,” Corona said in his Christmas message to court employees entitled “We Stand Together."
“I will lead the fight against those who dare to destroy the Court and its independence," he said.
He said his refusal to comment on the allegations thrown at him by President Aquino about the inconsistencies of Supreme Court decisions and the high tribunal's tendency to make it difficult for the Executive to prosecute those who committed corruption during the past administration is not a sign of weakness.
“My silence does not mean anything more than a caution and patience…I have been quietly preparing and will be ready to take more determined steps in the coming days.” Corona said he will defend the court against those who want to destroy it. (With reports from Chichi Conde and Lorenz Niel Santos, InterAksyon.com)
