Lawyer wants Corona impeachment trial stopped

A former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) on Tuesday petitioned the Supreme Court to stop the impending impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona in the Senate.

In a petition for certiorari and prohibition, lawyer Vicente Millora urged the high tribunal to issue a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction to stop the Senate from hearing the impeachment complaint against Corona.

The petition was the third pleading on the issue to be filed in the high court. Two separate petitions were filed on Monday by lawyer Vladimir Cabigao and tax informer Danilo Lihaylihay questioning the legality of Corona’s impeachment.

In his petition, Millora argued that the Articles of Impeachment should be declared null and void since members of the House of Representatives “acted with grave and blatant abuse of discretion” when they approved them on November 12.

He said the Articles of Impeachment did not go through the prescribed process defined in Section 3, Article XI of the  Constitution. He also said the 188 congressmen who endorsed and signed the impeachment complaint without reading it had “maneuvered in open conspiracy” with President Benigno Aquino III. Marlon Ramos