Evidently unprepared and rattled by high court Chief Justice Renato Corona’s direct blasts at President Aquino yesterday and the popular support he has from the judges and justices nationwide, the Chief Executive, through his spokesman, Edwin Lacierda, said Corona had no right to call Aquino a looming dictator as he called for the chief justice to go on leave and order the members of the Judiciary to go back to work.
Lacierda, at a press briefing yesterday immediately after the CJ’s speech, called on him to take a leave of absence so as not to drag the whole Judiciary into the raging impeachment storm that is now threatening to end his tenure and give Aquino full discretion to install his own head magistrate.
Lacierda said it would be best if Corona takes a leave of absence for the duration of his impeachment trial in the Senate to free the Judiciary from any involvement in his case.
“I think it would be proper for him to take a leave considering that he is undergoing trial
and he’s trying to involve the entire judiciary in the impeachment case against him,” the spokesman said.
Malacañang also called on judiciary officials and personnel not to let themselves be used by Corona who is trying to fend off impeachment charges for alleged partiality and dishonesty, by avoiding a court holiday.
According to Lacierda, the “sudden declaration” of a court holiday Wednesday “is yet another example of how justice can be subverted to further the interest of one.”
“If this is true, then one must ask if the judiciary is not being manipulated into participating in one man’s personal issues,” he said in a statement sent to reporters covering the Palace.
“We call on members of the judiciary not let themselves be used to further the political agenda of one man and his patron,” Lacierda said, in obvious reference to Corona and former President GloriaArroyo, who appointed him and promoted him to chief magistrate.
“We call on Chief Justice Corona, should he deny that a court holiday has been declared, to order them back to work and let’s not slow to a grinding halt the wheels of justice,” he added.
Lacierda lamented that court hearings for the Maguindanao massacre have been cancelled yesterday, apparently to allow “court employees to attend a hastily planned rally in support of Chief Justice Corona.”
Lacierda also dismissed claims made by Corona that Aquino has become a dictator because it is his family that was a victim of dictatorship during the time of former President Ferdinand Marcos, father of Sen. Bongbong Marcos who would be sitting as senator-judge in the impeachment trial.
“The whole speech a while ago was designed to identify President Aquino with a dictatorship and I think he has no right to identify or to accuse President Aquino of dictatorship. The Aquino family was a victim of the dictatorship in the 70s and the 80s and… Let me—for the few times I will be asking to step aside as a presidential spokesperson and to speak as a constitutional Law professor, “ said Lacierda. “With respect to the dictatorship, we had seen the opinions of Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee. I have read the opinions of Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee and I can tell you Chief Justice Corona, you are no Claudio Teehankee,” he said insultingly.
Lacierda said it is incorrect to claim that Aquino has metamorphosed into a dictator because his only intention in striving to unseat Corona is to finally remove all vestiges of the administration of former President Arroyo who is now under hospital arrest for alleged electoral sabotage.
“ What we are doing right now under the Aquino administration is trying to dismantle the Arroyo apparatus, of trying to protect her from accountability. We have done so. We have removed her—we have removed (her appointee from) the Office of the Ombudsman. We have appointed men and women of unquestionable integrity before the other constitutional commissions and we believe that Mr. Corona is a stumbling block to our reforms,” Lacierda said adding that the former Chief Justice should already refrain from issuing statements about his case and just explain his side before the Senate.
“The charges will stick; the evidence against him (CJ) will stick. What we are after is that we have justice; that we have—that our cases be tried based on justice and equity. What was he (Corona) prior to becoming justice of the Supreme Court? We have said that the totality of his conduct betrays his lack of objectivity; betrays his lack of integrity; betrays his lack of impartiality,” Lacierda claimed as he parroted Aquino’s earlier statements tagging Corona as an Arroyo puppet being a former presidential chief of staff, former presidential spokesman and executive secretary of Mrs. Arroyo.
“These positions are positions of the highest trust and confidence. And that’s the reason when he was transferred and he was appointed as justice and eventually as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, the pattern of behavior; the pattern of loyalty, of subservience to the former president remained,” he said.
Lacierda said that Corona’s glaring partiality for Mrs. Arroyo is “evidenced by the various rulings that he participated in” citing the case of Tecson versus Comelec where the chief justice dissented on the case of the late actor Fernando Poe Jr. and the case of Senate versus Ermita where he concurred with the constitutionality of Executive Order 464 which allowed then President Arroyo to invoke executive privilege, among other cases.
“How do we say he is objective or impartial? How can you be impartial when apart from being close to the former President, his wife was also appointed as director of John Hay Development Corporation? This is a GOCC under the executive department headed by (then) President Arroyo. The rules of the new Code of Judicial Conduct provides that judges and members of their family shall neither ask for nor accept any gifts, requests, or favor in relation to anything done or to be done or omitted to be done by him or her in connection with the performance of judicial duties,” Lacierda said.
“ We are victims of the decisions of Mr. Corona,” he retorted.
Lacierda asserted that the impeachment case against Corona is “not against the institution, this is not against the Supreme Court (but) this is against the obvious partiality of one person who has served the former President, who is now the sitting Chief Justice who continues to protect, aid and abet, and insulate former President Arroyo from criminal prosecution.”
“We are not impeaching the other justices. We are focused on CJ Corona, we perceive him as someone not reliable, genuine rule of law. We want a Supreme Court, we want a Chief Justice who will dispense true justice,” he said.
The Aquino line was also mouthed by his Yellow allies in the House, with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte yesterday lambasting Corona even as he said that the chief justice should distinguish himself from the judiciary.
“The CJ should not confuse himself with the judiciary. The judiciary is not he,” Belmonte told House reporters yesterday amid reports that some courts have declared a “holiday.”
“He is not the judiciary and I really cannot imagine him declaring a holiday,” Belmonte quipped questioning the power of the chief justice to declare a “court holiday.”
Deputy Speaker Lorenzo Tañada III said that the “court holiday” is foul.
“It is not fair for the Judiciary to punish the people just so they can show support for Justice Corona,” Tañada said yesterday.
“This is really hitting us below the belt. The courts’ operations is the exclusive province of the Judiciary, neither of the other branches can intervene to provide a remedy for the people. The judges know full well that they cannot be made to resume their offices, and it is our citizens that will bear the brunt of our helplessness,” he said. –Virgilio Bugaoisan with Gerry Baldo, Daily Tribune
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