Corona: Arroyo servant or Constitution's protector?
MANILA, Philippines (1st UPDATE) - Is he a loyal servant of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo or a fierce protector of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Will the real Renato Corona please step forward?
House prosecutors and defense lawyers presented different pictures of embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona at the start of his impeachment trial in the Senate Monday.
Speaking for the House prosecution, Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. described Corona as a "loyal servant" of Mrs. Arroyo even before she became president in 2001. He said Corona's loyalty reaped numerous rewards and rendered him unfit to remain as Chief Justice.
"Imagine, GMA paid for his back surgery. His wife was given plum positions in the John Hay Management Corporation. He was appointed Associate Justice, and the best reward of all, against all odds, he took a midnight oath as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court," he said in his opening statement before the Senate impeachment court.
Tupas said the Senate and members of the House of Representatives were gathered to try Corona because the Chief Justice "bartered away for a pot of porridge the effectiveness, the independence and the honor of the Supreme Court."
The lawmaker again cited the numerous accusations in the impeachment complaint, including:
* that Corona was deeply indebted to Mrs. Arroyo and granted her favor by issuing a temporary restraining order (TRO) allowing her to travel abroad;
* that he intervened in the impeachment against former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, again to protect Arroyo;
* that he amassed ill-gotten wealth after he was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2002;
* that he failed to account for the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF) and the Special Allowance for the Judiciary (SAJ) fund;
* lack of moral fitness by committing acts of impropriety involving parties with pending cases in the Supreme Court.
Tupas posed a question to the senator-judges: By what standards should Corona be judged? He said that the Supreme Court itself views the position of Chief Justice as beyond politics, and always putting honor and justice ahead of every other consideration.
In Corona's case, he said the Chief Justice displayed "deep indebtedness" to the former president while amassing ill-gotten since joining the court 10 years ago.
"Mr. Senate President, your honors, we submit that Renato Corona, by his misdeeds, is unfit to remain Chief Justice," he said.
No bias for Mrs. Arroyo
On the part of the defense, lawyer Eduardo delos Angeles reiterated that the Chief Justice does not own 45 real estate properties as alleged by impeachment prosecutors.
He noted that the impeachment complaint does not mention the 45 properties but only Corona's failure to account for the SAJ and JDF and his non-disclosure of his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN).
The defense lawyer said President Aquino was antagonistic to the Supreme Court because of its ruling to distribute Hacienda Luisita to landless farmers in Tarlac. The hacienda is majority-owned by Aquino's relatives.
He also noted that the prosecutors only chose select SC decisions to prove that Corona was biased for Mrs. Arroyo, omitting some SC decisions where the Chief Justice voted against the former President's interests.
Delos Angeles also chastised the congressmen for questioning the flip-flopping SC decisions on the League of Municipalities and the Dinagat Islands cases.
Defender of the Bill of Rights
Delos Angeles defended the SC's decision to issue a TRO for Mrs. Arroyo, noting that no criminal case had yet been filed against her when she filed a pleading before the High Court.
He recalled the controversial Supreme Court ruling on June 29, 1962 involving then Justice Secretary Jose Diokno and American businessman Harry Stonehill.
In the ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that Diokno conducted an illegal seizure of 2 truckloads of documents from Stonehill, which allegedly showed the businessman paying bribes to top government officials. It added that the warrants were illegal because it did not specify the things to be seized as required by the Constitution.
Delos Angeles said the Stonehill case was strikingly similar to the crusade of President Aquino to stamp out corruption.
"In both, there are crusading officials who want to eliminate corruption. In both, the public overwhelmingly support these officials. In both, the officials unfortunately transgressed the Constitution. In both, the Supreme Court stepped in and issued adverse and unpopular decisions because its task is to uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights," he said.
The lawyer said that in upholding the Bill of Rights, the Supreme Court and Corona "cannot be considered obstacles to clean government or the President's vision to daang matuwid.
"They protect individual rights and do not betray the public trust," he added.
Corona attends own trial
The opening statements highlighted Monday's impeachment proceedings at the Senate, which wrapped up after 2 hours.
Chief Justice Corona attended the trial together with his wife, Cristina, but did not address the court.
Senate President and Presiding Officer Juan Ponce Enrile denied 2 motions from the Corona camp: a motion for a preliminary hearing and motion to cite the House prosecutors in contempt.
He reminded both the prosecution and defense panels that "the people have no authority to try this case and so therefore, we request [everyone] to exercise a degree of caution in exposing evidence in public.”
He said the public “is not under oath” and cannot try Corona in the same way.
Before the trial, Corona criticized the House prosecutors and Land Registration Authority for issuing statements that he owns 45 real properties instead of 5. He said the allegations were meant to discredit him before the public even before the trial began.
He reiterated that there was no turning back and that he is committed to seeing through the end of the trial.
Conspiracy of 3
Corona also claimed 3 people are conspiring to remove him from office. He said the first person wanted to stop the distribution of the Hacienda Luisita to landless farmers in Tarlac, the second wanted to be vice-president "but lost in the 2010 election" while the third wants to be chief justice.
"Sila pong tatlo ang nagsasabwatan para mapatalsik ako sa pwesto," he said.
The first person is assumed to be President Aquino, whose relatives own Hacienda Luisita.
The President's spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, however said the impeachment trial isnot about the Hacienda but Corona's perceived bias for Mrs. Arroyo.
The second person is possibly Mar Roxas, who ran for vice-president in 2010 but lost to Jejomar Binay. In a statement, Roxas urged Corona to answer the charges in the impeachment trial instead of making up stories.
The third person alluded to by Corona is possibly Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, supposedly the front runner for the position of Chief Justice if Corona is removed.

prostituted aliies
while our neighboring ASEAN countries are busy discussing about their respective economies, the philippine government is too busy in their work to impeach the head of the supreme court perceived by the boy in the palace as an obstruction to his daang matuwid. this is despite that the global economy is in the midst of double-dip recession.
just recently, rounds of oil increase bothered the transport sector. the transport sector is asking an increase in fares due to unabated increase in the price of imported oil. late last year, maynilad announced an increase in water rates. butch abad last year announced that noy's govt is considering to introduce new taxes. the peso devalued almost everyday threatening to widen poverty in our country. our quarterly gdp is continuing is downward trend that recently recorded 3.2 gdp a far cry from our neighboring countries gdp that also suffered from global economic crisis. indonesia for example got 6.5 percent, while vietnam and singapore got 6.1 and malaysia recorded 5.8 gdp.
philippines under noy's watch was tagged as one of the world’s mostly unfree countries in the 2012 Index of Economic Freedom published by Wall Street journal.
it was also last year that the philippines was one of the countries who got the lowest investment in ASIA. the country was even declared as the worse country for investors in east of ASIA. according to a survey firm, self rated poverty is high despite of the 21 billion budget for govt. dole out campaign known as CCT.
the world bank lowered our growth projection this year. our mediocre growth caused our economy to lose momentum not to mention opportunities. prices of basic commodities are going up, even NFA and commercial rice are up since this govt. took office. the philippines also ranked poor dropping two notches in the world
competitiveness ranking. the country continues to rank poor in terms of infrastructure. this can be attributed to govt's much vaunted PPP that up until now, doesn't have a single project currently implemented. this govt. also failed to attract foreign investors to fund various govt. projects (ODA) due to unjustified cancellations of projects signed by the previous admin. this resulted to loose of trust and confidence on the part of foreign investors. the investments pledges (amounting to 1 billion dollar) that pnoy bragged about during his tour around the world still has nothing to show off.
last year, we've been witness to the president's tirades against the chief justice renato corona. this was done during the forum organized by no less than the supreme court. president aquino was expected to discuss cooperation. however, nothing is heard about the aforesaid subject, what the public saw was an enraged aquino who's obviously cannot contain his rage against the chief justice. the members of the judiciary witnessed a mad and foul-tongued chief executive berating the chief justice. inspite of unfavorable comments regarding the president's ill-timed display of despicable behavior, the incident repeated in several occasions. a loosened maverick is in full display.
then came in the decision of the supreme court voting unanimously ordering HLI (cojuangco-aquino family) to distribute the hacienda to poor farmers of luisita. quickly after the aforesaid ruling of the SC, noynoy and his prostituted allies in congress met in a restaurant and device a plan to impeach the chief justice. speaker belmonte was assigned to ensure getting the right numbers to impeach the CJ in congress. while tupaz and the rest will ensure that the filing of the impeachment case would be done immediately.
on several occasions, belmonte confirmed in his interviews that noynoy texted him thanking him for a job well done. this happened after the rail-roaded impeachment reached the senate. the malacanan mouthpieces including lacierda was even quoted using the word "we" when referring to the house prosecution panel. Llmas who also doesn't have business with corona's impeachment was also vocal about the CJ's impeachment. what happened to separation of powers? ask if the palace is meddling with the congress action to impeach the CJ, malacanan spin doctors are quick to deny it and claimed that it was an independent move on the part of congress. however, recently, it was no less than pnoy that confirmed that corona's impeachment was the handiwork of his political party LP. he even thanked them and his prostituted allies and claimed that it is the brightest moment of the party. this proves that noynoy and his mouthpieces / lapdogs are lying to their teeth in claiming that the palace has got nothing to do with corona's impeachment.
the articles of impeachment was railroaded despite the fact that the constitutional requirement of verification wasn't met. even after the senate already presided as an impeachment court, the political machination remained unabated. lead prosecutor tupaz jr. called for a press conference and presented evidences before the public regarding corona's allege list properties of corona. however, as the hearing of the impeachment case progress, it was proven that their accusation (article 2) of corona's non-disclosure of SALN wasn't even true. it has been proven that the CJ regularly files his SALN and is available in SC and even in malacanan. since the prosecution panel's accusation in article 2 can be easily proven wrong, the are now trying to digress the issue to corona's allege ill-gotten wealth. however, this issue has been questioned the the defense claiming the issue was not even included in article two which only alleges corona from non-filing of SALN. the defense further argued that any evidence arising from such claim is no longer admissible following the rules of evidence. during the senate hearing, the prosecution failed to show certified true copies of titles and properties insofar as CJ's SALN is concerned. they also failed to show individuals that will testify on the signatures and certify relevant documents, yet the prosecution has the nerve to expose allege "evidence" with questionable validity to the public.
the issue of admissibility of the evidence presented by the prosecution panel was left hanging since JPE decided that the impeachment court will rule on it once the evidence were formally presented. during the last hearing, the prosecution claimed that corona's assets have increased by 8 million from the period of 2009 - 2010. however, they failed to mention that corona gained 8 million from the proceeds of the sale during 2010. this will justify the increase of 8 million. most of the public officials share an upward trend in so far as their SALN is concerned. even pnoy's SALN have increased ever since he joined the government. i personally do not know a public official who's assets have decreased after joining public office.
we can now officially say that our legislators metamorphosed into a lynching mob of noynoy. the sad part about this is that people are being witness to the
usurpation of our democracy perpetrated by a leader who's acting like a tyrant. this is creeping martial law and the stamp pad congress will submit to pnoy's will because the executive has the power of purse. the congress is able to railroad the impeachment against corona while proposed laws languish for decades in congress. this govt. can't even pass the FOI bill that has been languishing in the back-burner for 15 years. is pnoy afraid that it can be used against him and his prostituted allies in congress (79 of them have pending graft charges in the office of the ombudsman)? for the mean time, let us wait for another round of cock and bull story coming from the prostituted allies of pnoy disseminated by yellow media including that giant media conglomerate that has to thank cory for surrendering MERALCO to their family.
NO BRAINER. AN ARROYO SERVANT
NO BRAINER. AN ARROYO SERVANT FOREVER! TUTA!
Tupas jr was a loyal servant to pork barrel
Tupas jr was a loyal servant to PORK BARREL from the time she became congresswoman. Such loyalty had numerous rewards such as her P20M – P35M mansion in quezon city at an early age. Tupas jr appointment as spokeswoman served an immoral purpose of returning hacienda luisita to dictator noynoy. You are an enemy of good government as you have sold your soul for a mess of pottage and like judas Iscariot betrayed your country and like the mary Magdalene prostituted yourself for a few pieces of gold. depart i say and let us have done with you. For the good of the country, go
Tupas jr was a loyal servant to pork barrel
Tupas jr was a loyal servant to PORK BARREL from the time she became congresswoman. Such loyalty had numerous rewards such as her P20M – P35M mansion in quezon city at an early age. Tupas jr appointment as spokeswoman served an immoral purpose of returning hacienda luisita to dictator noynoy. You are an enemy of good government as you have sold your soul for a mess of pottage and like judas Iscariot betrayed your country and like the mary Magdalene prostituted yourself for a few pieces of gold. depart i say and let us have done with you. For the good of the country, go
A (Constitutionally illegal)
A (Constitutionally illegal) midnight appointee by a corrupt and fake president pretty much sums up the servant-master relationship.
↓↓↓ The battle of online surveys unfold ↓↓↓
As the battle of Noynoy and corona unfold in the senate,
a battle is also unfolding in the internet.
A survey is being done
which could be the basis of the Senate to acquit or convict
as the Next election is coming.
Supporters of corona claims to have reached more than a Million supporters online while
Noynoy's has reached just about the same.
Money has flowed to hire people to go online
to make it appear that they have many votes,
jumping from multiple ip address,
it was later found out that it is coming from just around 1,000 ip address.
And so, nothing can beat the true vote
of Millions coming from different ip addresses.
To whoever you support,
let it be known at
vvvv surveys c☺m ph/impeachment-trial
Note internet for dummies: dagdagan ng mga tuldok at palitan ng "o" yung "☺" para makita ang site
MABUHAY SI CHIEF JUSTICE CORONA..THE MODERN PHILIPPINE HERO ..
AND THE DEFENDER OF "BILL OF RIGHTS"
OUKEEP UP YOUR GOOD WORK CHIEF JUSTICE CORONA..GOD BLESS YOU. SUPORTADO KA NG MAMAMAYANG FILIPINO NA MARUNONG MAG ISIP AT MAY MATITINO PANG PAG IISIP.
HUWAG KANG YUYUKO KAY BAKLETANG ABOY PNOY AT SA MGA SUPPORTERS NIYANG ABNOY,TANGA,BALIW AT BOBO.
IT'S ALL BLACK PROPAGANDA CHIEF JUSTICE CORONA...AT HUWAG KANG YUYUKO KAY BAKLETANAG ABNOY PNOY...NASA LIKOD MO AT LAGING SUMUSUPORTA SA IYO ANG MGA FILIPINONG MARUNONG MAG ISIP AT MAY MATITINO PANG PAG IISIP
KEEP UP YOUR GOOD WORK CHIEF JUSTICE CORONA.
WALANG KATOTOHANAN NA NAKATULONG ANG AQUINO FAMILY SA BANSANG PILIPINAS AT MAMAMAYANG FILIPINO.
SA MGA PANGYAYARING NAGANAP ANG AQUINO FAMILY LAMANG ANG NAKINABANG AT HINDI ANG MAMAMAYANG FILIPINO..
NAMATAY SI NINOY DAHIL SA KATANGAHAN AT KATIGASAN NG ULO NITO....PERO DAHIL SA BLACK MEDIA PROPAGANDA GINAWA PANG HERO ITO...
NAGING PANGULO SI CORY AQUINO HINDI DAHIL MAGALING ITO..KUNDI DAHIL DAW ANG ASAWA NITO AY ISANG HERO DAHIL SA KATANGAHAN AT SA KATIGASAN NG ULO A.K.A. "ABNOY" NAMATAY ITO.
NAGING PANGULO SI BAKLETANG ABNOY PNOY" KING OF ABNOY" HINDI DAHIL MAGALING ITO...KUNDI DAHIL SA KASIKATAN LAMANG NG MGA MAGULANG NITO.....RESULTA SA MEDIA BLACK PROPAGANDA NA ININDORSO NG MGA TAONG NAKIKINABANG RIN NITO.
SUMISIKAT RIN SI KRIS AQUINO "THE TULO QUEEN" DAHIL RIN SA KASIKATAN NG MGA MAGULANG NITO..RESULTA RIN SA MGA MEDIA BLACK PROPAGANDA NA ININDORASO NG MGA TAONG NAKIKINABANG RIN NITO.
ANG MGA AQUINO LAMANG ANG NAKIBANG AT ANG MAMAMAYANG FILIPINO ANG TULOY TULOY NA NILOKO NG MGA AQUINO...
@OOHSH: Disgusting Paid Spammer Troll!!!
BALIW, LUNATIC, SERA-ULO….REPEATING TWISTED LOGIC OVER AND OVER WILL NEVER MAKE IT RIGHT. IT JUST SHOWS MENTAL ILLNESS OR DESPERATION. THESE SPAMMERS ARE MOST LIKELY JUST ONE OR TWO PERSONS WITH VARIOUS ACCOUNTS, PAID BY THE CORRUPT PEOPLE OF THIS COUNTRY, ESPECIALLY THE ARROYOS AND HER CRONIES. ALAM NAMIN ANG GINAGAWA NINYO! HINDI KAMI PWEDE MALOKO. PAID SPAMMERS, SHAME ON YOU FOR SELLING YOUR SOULS AND BETRAYING THIS COUNTRY!
STOP TROLLING THIS FORUM!!!
FILTHY DISGUSTING SPAMMER TROLL!!
FILTHY PAID SPAMMER TROLL!!!!
hahahaha akoy natatawa sa
hahahaha akoy natatawa sa silent majority na yan. nung eleksyon sinasabi nang makapandak manalo si gibo dahil sa silent majority na yan. nang lumabas ang resulta, naglandslide c pinoy sa kangkungan pinulot c gibo.ngayon sabihin nyo si corona ay suportado na naman ng silent majority? gumising ka sister!!! at tangapin ang realidad na ayaw na nang taong bayan ky corona. sukat ba namang pinyagan nyang palabasin c pandak ng dahil lamang labag sa kanyang ginawang batas!!! at pano nya nabili nang cash ang bahay nya na mura lang sa halagang 14m. hoy magising na kayo at makinig sa takbo ng impeachment kaysa pigilin to.
LOL
Anong landslide? Ang boto na nakuha ni Noynoy wala pa sa kalahati ng populasyon ng Pilipinas.
Nakakatawa ka sister.