Corona communications group ‘incommunicado’

Chief Justice Renato Corona

The signal was off for Chief Justice Renato Corona’s communications group.

The creation of Corona’s pool of spokespersons was delayed Monday because of Malacañang’s order to temporarily cut off cell phone services in some areas of Manila as part of the government’s security measures for the annual Black Nazarene procession.

Jose Midas Marquez, Supreme Court administrator and spokesperson, said he was supposed to talk with three lawyers who had been chosen by Corona as members of his communications team in his impeachment trial in the Senate, which begins on January 16.

“I was supposed to talk to them to confirm their inclusion in the team but I cannot make even a single call,” Marquez told reporters.

He said members of the team would address questions from the media concerning Corona’s impeachment trial.

“The Chief Justice was very careful in choosing them,” Marquez said.

However, Marquez declined to name the team members pending the “receipt of confirmation” from them.

According to him, Corona decided to pick “outsiders” as his spokespersons to douse speculations that he would use the resources of the judiciary in defending himself. Marlon Ramos