CBCP president urges Senate to heed Supreme Court order
MANILA, Philippines – The head of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines urged the Senate on Saturday to respect the Supreme Court’s stopping it from looking into dollar accounts allegedly belonging to Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Cebu Archbishop Jose Palma, the current CBCP president, said the Senate should abide by the law on the secrecy of dollar bank accounts.
“There is a law of secrecy for dollar accounts. I’m sure the Senate president will not give it anyway,” Palma said in an interview with Church-run Radio Veritas. “It is more academic for the Senate to respect the TRO.”
Nevertheless, Palma said the CBCP was leaving it up to the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, to determine the best step to take in the legal impasse on the dollar accounts.
“We leave this matter in the hands of the Senator. We are not siding with anyone. The ball is now in the hands of the Senate. Let’s just trust and respect the process,” he said.
Two other CBCP members urged that the impeachment trial of Corona by the Senate proceed, saying it would help the country find the truth about the numerous allegations against the chief justice.
“The impeachment must be finished to get the truth,” said Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez.
“It must go on to find out more truth about Corona,” said Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes.
Bishop Ephraim Tendero of the Philippine Council for the Evangelical Churches said Corona’s trial should proceed “to instill accountability to everyone.”
“We should proceed with the trial in order to uphold the rule of law and instill accountability to everyone. Stopping the trial will not allow the accused to present his defense and let the senator-judges discharge their duty with probity,” Tendero said.
But for Ramon Arguelles, the Catholic archbishop of Lipa, the impeachment trial should already be wrapped up “to save the country from institutional disaster.”
“Many leaders should be saved from this embarrassing situation. The charges of corruption must be done in another forum,” he said.
However, Argulles said that if Corona were proven guilty, he should be “barred from government positions for good.”
“All the others similarly guilty must also be prosecuted, jailed and kept from further corrupt practices. The nation will then be saved from unscrupulous politicians,” he said.
