Corona blasts senator-judges

Saying he had “nothing to gain but everything to lose,” Chief Justice Renato Corona slammed senators allegedly attempting to turn his impeachment trial in the Senate into an “inquisition” alongside a Palace campaign to “demonize” him.

Corona came out swinging before fellow magistrates and faculty members at the opening of a new facility at Ateneo Law School in Makati City late Friday evening.

“As if the impeachment trial were not enough, some senator-judges have taken on the role of prosecutors and have converted what should be an adversarial proceeding into an inquisition,” he said without naming names in a speech titled “Excellence in Law: Destiny of the Ateneo Lawyer.”

“I can no longer count how many of my constitutional rights have been blatantly and grossly violated,” he said.

Corona’s defense lawyers earlier sought the inhibition of Sen. Franklin Drilon, a staunch ally and party-mate of President Aquino, for helping the prosecution on a number of occasions during the trial.

Drilon rejected the call while the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, simply ignored the motion.

The President’s deputy spokesperson, Abigail Valte, dismissed Corona’s blast as an “act of desperation.” She said the impeachment trial was all about Corona’s “fitness to hold the highest post in the judiciary.”

Repeating a previous statement by Mr. Aquino, she called on Corona to open his dollar bank account to the public if he had nothing to hide.

Corona said central to the effort to oust him was the issue of the Hacienda Luisita, which is owned by the family of the President, who has said that Corona has been an obstacle in the Palace effort to prosecute former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for corruption.

The Supreme Court earlier unanimously ruled to turn over the vast estate to farmers. The Cojuangco family would receive P173 million in compensation based on a 1989 valuation, according to the court ruling. But the hacienda later filed a petition seeking some P10 billion on the property’s 2006 market value.

“This whole sordid affair has all been about politics from beginning to end. It is about Hacienda Luisita; the P10-billion compensation which the President’s family reportedly wants for the land that was simply lent to them by the government,” Corona declared.

The Chief Justice cited the “need to terrorize and instill a chilling effect on the justices of the Supreme Court to be able to bend their decisions in favor of the Malacañang tenant.”

He said the impeachment trial, which is openly supported by Malacañang, was also connected to the “need to nullify the constitutional election of the sitting Vice President” and “the need to appoint a new Chief Justice who will deliver anything and everything the President wants.”

Transportation Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, a close friend and former running mate of Mr. Aquino, is still contesting the victory of Vice President Jejomar Binay in the 2010 elections.

Media campaigns

“I want to tell you that I have nothing to gain but everything to lose in this fight. But I will have proven true to myself,” Corona told the Ateneo audience, including some members of his defense team.

“I thank God for this one great opportunity of a lifetime to show that, in this world, there are still men who are willing to lose everything, including their lives, for what they believe in.”

He added: “Recent events show we are teetering toward one-man rule, where the rule of law is undermined and the system of government, particularly the principle and mechanism of checks and balances, is destroyed.”

The Chief Justice lamented what he called “well-funded media campaigns” allegedly intended to destroy his reputation. With a report from Christine O. Avendaño