CJ queries Noy’s fitness to lead

DARES NOYNOY TO DISCLOSE SALN, BANK ACCOUNTS, PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS

Tit for tat.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona came out swinging yesterday at President Aquino, a day after the chief executive called him a liar, demanding that now and not in “due time” should be the time for Corona to explain to the public how he had amassed all those millions and hid his wealth in several bank accounts, calling him guilty as charged.

Aquino was also livid over the defense team’s baring of the presidential bribery of P100 million for each senator to vote to disobey the SC’s restraining order on dollar deposits.

He also called on the students he addressed at a forum Friday to support his call to oust the chief magistrate, hinting at mob rule to remove Corona if acquitted by the Senate Court.

Corona said Aquino himself should come clean on his assets as well as his own qualifications.

Addressing Aquino directly, Corona said:“Perhaps, it will be best that you also disclose, Mr. President, your SALn (Statement of Assets and Liabilities) and explain it to the people. Maybe, you should also include your bank accounts and psychological records that have long been an issue,” Corona said in a statement.to the people. Maybe, you should also include your bank accounts and psychological records that have long been an issue,” Corona said in a statement.

On the SALn issue,the CJ said: “I didn’t keep my SALn. It is the Supreme Court policy that was put in place 20 years ago, that kept my SALn from being published. I will explain my SALn on the right time and at the right place, as provided for in the Senate rules governing impeachment cases. For the meantime, it would be best for you, Mr. President that you also show your SALn and explain it to the Filipino people. It would in fact be better if you also come out with your psychological records, which has long been an issue against you. It is our obligation to the people to show proof that we are psychologically fit.

On the Rabe vs. Flores case that Aquino and his senator-judges bring up, the CJ said: “you (Aquino) mentioned a case where one court interpreter was removed from office because of misdeclaring her SALn. It would be better if your able lawyers would tell you that Miss Flores was terminated from government service not just because she didn’t declare she had an apartment, but also because of double compensation as she was then employed not just in the court but also in the local government of Panabo, Davao.”

He also hinted at the mental capacity of Aquino to lead the country.

The issue of Aquino’s psychological report cropped up during the 2010 presidential elections. ABS-CBN, which was campaigning heavily for him, quickly issued a fake psychological report as the network got wind of a psychological report done by Fr. Jaime Bulatao when Aquino was still a student.

The genuine report when it was released, was spun by the same media as fake, despite the fact that which was the findings in the Bulatao report on his obsession to go after those who hurt his parents and his family, can only be done with full political power. The same report also stated that Aquino’s attention span was brief, among other negative findings on his mental state.

Aquino’s 2010 election campaign had relied heavily on his parents legacy including the latter’s part in the Edsa Revolt. The euphoria had glossed over the reporterd psychological shortcomings of the chief executive who had been criticized for his predilection for firearms and a tendency to take naps.

“We have an obligation to prove to our people our mental capacity to lead,” Corona stressed as he called on the public to join him to support the high court.

He also called on Aquino to stop meddling or influencing the Senate Impeachment Court. “The impeachment Court has its own process as stipulated in the Constitution and the implementing rules and guidelines of the Senate. It was you who chose to take on this case and have it transmitted to the Senate. Let us not divert the issue away from the impeachment court by using the media in persecuting me. Let due process take its course. As I have said before, it would be best that you just observe and keep your mouth shut.”

He also blasted the president for saying in his talk with the student of the Chief Justice’s “intent to confuse or mislead so the public would lose interest,” hitting back by saying that nobody should be blamed for it except (Aquino’s) prosecution team that came up with the fake documents that allegedly contained a list of my properties, published my revenue sources in an attempt to make it appear that there is no way I could have afforded to buy those properties — without them giving the entire picture, and very recently submitted as evidence fake set of bank documents. Now tell me, who’s fooling the people?”

“As President, he need not enlighten things or straighten up issues that are being muddled by some. That’s the job of the Senate, acting as impeachment court. Your job is to look for solutions on the worsening poverty situation in the country, the growing number of hungry Filipinos, the relentless increase in the price of petroleum products and other basic commodities, unabated demolition of houses of the urban poor, the snail-paced government response to calamities due to the government’s continued neglect of the environment. These are the things that you should be working on.”

The CJ also blasted Aquino for teaching the youth the wrong things.

“Why teach the youth to opinionate without them seeing the real picture, or without them hearing the other side of the story he has been telling? Is this the kind of ‘justice’and ‘fair play’ that he wants the youth to emulate? Give me a chance to be heard, present evidences, respond to baseless allegations and tell the truth. This is what the Constituiton says of genuine justice.

If you are losing patience on the slow pace of the impeachment case you filed against me, the solution to your boredom is in the hands of your prosecutors.

“I totally agree when you said that we should put an end to a system where there are defrauders and derfrauded, oppressor and aggrieved. I only have 20 lawyers, all of whom are rendering their legal services for free as against your 188 congressmen and about 60 private prosecutors, all of whom are receiving stipends from the government. Is it right? Plus the BIR and LTO Commissioners, LRA Administrator, Registers of Deeds, BID Commissioner, among many other officials and government employees, who were given the marching orders to find fault in me and my entire family.

“You are using the entire government force to pin me and my entire family down. Is this fair play? Is this the straight path that you have been saying?

“I call on the Filipino people. The President controls the Executive Department. He also has control over the House of Representatives. Let us not allow him to take control of the Senate and the entire judiciary. This is for our democracy. This is for us Filipinos.”

In a speech during a forum in La Consolacion College in Manila, Aquino took a shot against Corona over charges of hiding wealth in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

Malacañang yesterday described as an insult to the institution a statement issued by the Chief Justice but obviously did not think of the President’s statements against the CJ a day earlier as insulting.

In an emailed statement, the Office of the Presidential Spokesman said that the CJ who is facing the possibility of being booted out of the top legislative post, should seriously consider listening and heeding to the call of the Filipino people for him to bare the truth behind the wealth he acquired and the money he stashed in numerous accounts in various private banks.

“The long rhetoric of Mr. Corona did not actually answer why there are discrepancies in his SALn and his wealth that was only discovered at the trial. He should stop pretending as if he hears nothing about his wealth which continues to grow with every passing day without him baring it all”, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Lacierda likewise said that the chief magistrate should also stop insulting the integrity of the government institution even as he called on Corona to stop making a public invitation to attend his protest rallies.

“Instead of insulting the integrity of each of the government institutions, and instead of prodding the public to go to the streets to protest, it would be best for him to just answer the question posed by the sovereign Filipino people — Where did the money found in his bank account come from. He has been repeatedly saying that he’ll come up with an explanation on how he amassed such amount but Mr. Corona himself filed a petition asking the Supreme Court to stop the impeachment court from getting close to it”. –Benjamin B. Pulta and Fernan J. Angeles, Daily Tribune