City mayors working on campaign to press CJ to go on leave

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines—City mayors have joined forces with various groups for a movement that organizers said would set the standards for a chief justice and lead to a campaign to press impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona to take a leave of absence during his trial at the Senate, according to one of the organizers.

Hernani Braganza, the mayor of Alaminos City and the secretary general of the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP), said the movement would be called “Ang Tipo Kong Chief Justice.”

“Whether [Corona] is found guilty or not by the Senate in the impeachment proceedings, we want our voices to be heard as part of the widening public clamor for reforms in the country’s judicial system,” Braganza said.

He said the movement aims to tap the power of social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs, as well as traditional mass campaigns such as signature drives and campus tours in getting wider public participation in the search for the ideal chief justice.

Another leader of LCP, City of San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, said the group is still talking with various civil society groups.

“The LCP is one of the groups in the discussions [with civil society movements]. Nothing is final yet on the dates of the mass protests,” said Rodriguez, the LCP president.

Rodriguez also denied reports that LCP has withdrawn support for one of the eight articles of impeachment against Corona.

LCP alleged that the Supreme Court flip-flopped in its decisions on the conversion of 16 towns into cities.

“This flip-flopping provides a dangerous precedent. The integrity of the Supreme Court is diminished,” Rodriguez said.

He said he or Braganza would appear as witness when prosecutors present the article on the Supreme Court’s decision on the creation of 16 cities.

Rodriguez said the impeachment of Corona and its outcome are “important for the future of Filipino children.”

The importance rests on the cleansing process that the trial and Corona’s possible conviction brings, he said. Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon, and Yolanda Sotelo, Inquirer Northern Luzon