Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
City mayors supporting the removal of Chief Justice Renato Corona have joined forces with labor groups, church organizations, legal practitioners, nongovernment organizations and members of the academe in forming a new grassroots-based movement that aims to set the standards of qualifications befitting a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court.
“Ang Tipo Kong Chief Justice” Movement seeks to solicit public opinion on the qualities and qualifications that must be embodied by the Chief Justice for him to gain the trust and confidence of the citizenry, the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) said in a press statement.
Whether Corona is found guilty or not by the Senate in the ongoing impeachment trial, ‘‘we want our voices to be heard as part of the widening public clamor for reforms in the country’s judicial system,” said Alaminos City Mayor Hernani Braganza, secretary general of the LCP, one of the movement’s convenors.
“We want the ordinary people to do their share in this effort by articulating their view of an ideal Chief Justice, not only by virtue of his legal expertise but in his moral fitness to assume the highest post in the judiciary,” he added.
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The movement aims to harness the power of social networking media such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs as well as traditional mass campaigns such as signature drive and campus tours in eliciting wider public participation in the search for the ideal Chief Justice.
It explained that the ordinary people have shunned participation in the impeachment proceedings due to their inability to comprehend and appreciate the legal maneuverings in the Senate.
“We are deeply dismayed by the fact that the ongoing proceedings in the Senate have shifted from being the primary avenue for truth, to a platform for legal maneuverings that only serve to sidetrack the essence of the trial which is to arrive at the truth,” the group said in its statement.
The League of Cities, an organization of 122 city mayors, has scored the Supreme Court for repeated “flip-flopping” on the case it filed against the conversion into cities of 16 municipalities that did not meet the qualifications set by the Constitution and the Local Government Code.
The League explained that the latest Supreme Court decision on the case has resulted in the loss of about P10 billion in Internal Revenue Allocations (IRA) for the existing cities.
The launch was also attended by its other convenors: TUCP Representative Raymond Democrito T. Mendoza; Roland Cabigas, managing director, La Liga Policy Institute; Gerry Rivera, president, Palea; Renato Magtubo, Partido Manggagawa; Gerard Seno, national vice president of the Associated Labor Unions; Maria Shiela Bazar, legal practitioner; Louie Coral, Alliance for Consumer Empowerment and Terry Ridon, convenor, I Monitor.