Church, Cebu officials voice concern over impeachment

With the wheels of the impeachment process on the grind, the Cebu archdiocese voiced hope that the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona won’t destabilize the country’s democracy.

Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma said the public should trust the Senate in handling Corona’s impeachment trial.

“I trust that the Senate would evaluate the merits of the case,” he said.

The Senate yesterday received the articles of impeachment from the Lower House at past 10 a.m.

The senators, who will go on recess this week will sit as judges for the trial, which starts next year.

Palma, concurrent president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), was among those chosen to mediate between President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Corona.

During the commencement exercise of the Sisters of Mary School Boys Town in Minglanilla town yesterday, Palma said he was sad with the rift between the executive and judicial branch, which led to Corona’s impeachment.

He said neither President Benigno Aquino nor Corona asked them for help in mediating between them.

“As a principle, we believe that we would have initiated and stood as  mediators if we were asked but nobody asked us. We don’t want to appear like we’re meddling in the case,” Palma said.

The CBCP would also not issue any statement on the impeachment since they haven’t met for the plenary session yet.

Earlier, Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama said Corona deserves enough time to defend himself from the impeachment charges against him.

He said he was worried how the impeachment process would affect the country’s stability.

“We had a president (Ferdinand Marcos) who was removed after 20 years.  We had a president (Joseph Estrada) who was removed by impeachment.  We had a president (Gloria Arroyo) who was arrested and now the chief justice is being impeached. God save the Philippines,” he said.

Rama, a member of the Liberal Party (LP), yesterday questioned the haste in the Lower House’s approval of Corona’s impeachment.

He said an impeachment complaint was time-consuming and would require focus.

“All of us will again be focused (on the impeachment trial). Productivity wise will be affected,” he said.

He said while government gives informal settlers a chance to prepare for eviction, the same consideration should have also been extended on Corona.

Cebu Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia said there are more important things for government to do and she hopes that the public won’t be distracted by the impeachment.

“As experiences shown, especially because its media that focuses on these kinds of processes. Sometimes the entire nation stops just to watch on TV what becomes a miniseries,” she said.

Garcia said the impeachment process should continue.

“That’s a political process and I believe that the wheels of the entire process have started. Let the process continue,” she told reporters. With Chief of Reporters Doris C. Bongcac and Correspondent Carmel Loise Matus