Corona brushes off Aquino’s tirades vs high court

MANILA, Philippines—Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona brushed off the tirades President Aquino made Monday, telling reporters to just “let it go’’.

“Hayaan na natin. Magpa-Pasko na (Let it go. It’ll be Christmas soon),” Corona said in reaction to the President’s speech at the 1^st National Criminal Justice Summit at the Manila Hotel where the latter slammed the Supreme Court for some of its recent decisions.

In his speech, Aquino hit the high court for declaring as unconstitutional the creation of the Truth Commission which was supposed to investigate anomalies linked to the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

About two meters away, Corona sat in stony silence as Aquino spoke, but managed to smile as he shook hands with the President after the speech.

Justice Secretary Leila De Lima, who was also present at the gathering, said she was impressed by the reaction of the Chief Justice.

“He is very cool, very professional,” De Lima said.

Aside from the creation of the Truth Commission, Aquino also scored the high tribunal on the issuance of a temporary restraining order on the watch list order issued by the Department of Justice. The high court set conditions which should be met before Mrs. Arroyo could leave the country. But the court, in a subsequent ruling, said it need not be followed.

“Aba eh naglagay ka pa ng patakaran kung wala ka naman palang balak na masunod ito. Lahat na ng proseso ay sinunod natin ngunit sa kabila nito, tayo pa daw ngayon ang naghahanap ng away (They have imposed a condition only to later on say that it need not be followed. And then they said we are the ones looking for a fight),” Aquino said.

“Hindi ito ang unang beses na gumawa ang Korte Suprema ng mga desisyong napakahirap unawain (This is not the first time that the Supreme Court made a decision that are hard to understand),” Aquino said.

He also questioned the appointment of Corona as he noted that there should be no more appointments two months before an election.

“He was appointed not two months before the election but one week after the election. Based on our law and the Supreme Court’s previous rulings, appointments two months before elections are prohibited except on temporary positions in the executive. Now, did the Supreme Court violate the law in affirming the appointment of the Chief Justice?” Aquino said.

Aquino also noted the high court’s decision dismissing his petition asking that Republic Act 9716 or the law creating a third district in Camarines Sur be declared as unconstitutional.

In his petition, Aquino said the law will favor Congressman Diosdado “Dato” Arroyo and former Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya because the creation of the new district has prevented the two from running against each other.

“Iginagalang po natin ang pagkakapantay sa kapangyarihan ng hudikatura at ng ehekutibong sangay ng gobyerno. Wala po tayong balak na tapakan ang karapatan nila o bastusin ang kredibilidad ng sinuman (We respect the co-equal status of the Executive and the Judiciary. We have no plans of violating their rights or disrespecting them),” Aquino said.

Several groups are calling for Corona’s inhibition from cases involving Arroyo due to his alleged bias.