by Neal H. Cruz
PDI
The senator-judges of the impeachment court are to render their decision on the guilt or innocence of Chief Justice Renato Corona as this is being written, and I don’t see how anyone of them, including Senators Joker Arroyo and Miriam Defensor-Santiago, can acquit him unless the senator-judge is thoroughly biased, deaf and blind, gullible, or stupid.
One of the accusations against Corona is that he did not include all his assets in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth. Well, he himself admitted that he did not include $2.4 million and P80 million in bank deposits in his SALNs as required by the Constitution, though he made some feeble excuses for not doing so. Mere “palusot,†in the words of Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas.
Perhaps realizing that their client has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, the defense lawyers have shifted tactics. Now they are saying that if Corona is found guilty, his crime is not an impeachable offense and that he should not be booted out of the Supreme Court but given a much lighter penalty.
A defense lawyer, Eduardo de los Angeles, went so far as to suggest that assuming that Corona’s noninclusion of his dollar deposits in his SALNs was not “justified,†he should be penalized not with impeachment but only with “a fine not exceeding P5,000 or imprisonment not exceeding five years or both.†That’s the equivalent of a slap on the wrist.
He forgot that the same Supreme Court of which Corona is the Chief, dismissed an employee for not including in her SALNs a market stall that she owned. A market stall is a far cry from the P80 million and $2.4 million that Corona did not include in his SALNs. Is there one law for ordinary employees and another for Supreme Court justices?
Corona clearly violated the Constitution by not including all his assets in his SALNs as the Constitution mandates. The punishment for violation of the Constitution by officials like the Chief Justice is impeachment. And impeachment means removal from office. Now the defense panel wants the impeachment court to punish him with a slap on the wrist.
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Topic: A Senator Who Is Blind, Deaf, Gullible or Stupid? (Read 877 times)