Budget Secretary Florencio Abad on Friday denied charges aired by Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago that pork barrel funds were released in exchange for votes to convict Chief Justice Renato Corona.
By virtue of its status as an Impeachment Court, the Senate in effect wrought jurisprudence when it held that R.A. 6426 or the Foreign Currency Deposits Act does not forbid a public official to disclose his alien cash deposits in his Sworn Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
Quite literally, removing Renato Corona from office as Chief Justice came relatively cheap. As of Saturday, the Senate had spent only around P3.5 million for the 44-day impeachment trial, according to Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III.
Lawyer Karen Jimeno was only a second choice as counsel for the defense panel of former Chief Justice Renato Corona, she said Thursday in an interview over Radyo Inquirer 990AM.
A series of unfortunate events during the impeachment trial, starting from the Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) case, has led to former Chief Justice Renato Corona’s downfall, said Dean Amado Valdez of the University of the East College of Law in an interview with co-anchors Susan K, Den Macaranas and Dylan Halili on Radyo Inquirer early Wednesday.
“Wala pang sungay, walang personal agenda (No devils’ horns yet, no hidden agenda).” This was how former Solicitor General Frank Chavez, in an interview early Wednesday over Radyo Inquirer, described an ideal replacement for impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares, a member of the House prosecution team, on Wednesday admitted he was one of the lawmakers who went to Malacañang a few hours after a guilty verdict was handed down by the Senate impeachment court on now-former Chief Justice Renato Corona.
The Corona impeachment trial was not about politics, political struggle and personal vendetta, Justice Secretary Leila De Lima said Wednesday.
Now it can be told. Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile, who presided over the impeachment trial of now-former Chief Justice Renato Corona, believed that Corona’s controversial walkout when he first testified on May 22 was “contrived.”
Following the decision of the Senate acting as impeachment court to convict former Chief Justice Renato Corona and coinciding with Senator Francis Escudero’s challenge to sign a waiver on public officers’ bank accounts, the question on truthful declaration of statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) is now focused on the lawmakers.
Congratulations sa mayoriya sa mga senator-judges nga nibotar gyud pagkonbikto kang Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona sa makasaysayanon kaayo nga promulgation sa impeachment trial kagahapong adlawa sa Article II nga culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust.
Around 1,000 protesters from Akbayan arrived near the Senate area calling for Chief Justice Renato Corona’s conviction later Tuesday.
The verdict on Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona Tuesday would be “immediately executory,” a prosecution spokesman said.
