Being unpopular as chief justice not surprising—defense

MANILA, Philippines—Chief justices normally “shy away from the public eye” and thus may not be very popular with the public, a spokesperson of the defense panel of Chief Justice Renato Corona said on Thursday.

Lawyer Rico Paolo Quicho was reacting to the results of a Pulse Asia survey which indicated that Corona’s approval ratings were lower than those of other officials.

He said that Corona needed to maintain a degree of independence and distanced himself from people to better decide on cases.

Corona earned a disapproval rating of 58 percent, according to the survey’s results—getting only 14 percent in positive response to his performance. Twenty-six percent of the respondents were however undecided on the issue.

Lawyer Karen Jimeno, also of the defense team, said that they were also unsure of the 1,200 respondents—whether they were also the ones who participated in the earlier survey on Corona being guilty or not. “[If they are part of that survey], it could easily explain why the popularity rating of chief justice is low.”

Quicho added that they were also curious as to the timing of the survey’s results since it came out at the time the defense was presenting its evidence and the Lenten break was in the offing.

He said that it was possible that the results could be used to “condition the minds of the public…  I hope they don’t take advantage of [such] resources.”

If the results’ purpose was to show where the trial was at this point, then it was not wrong, Quicho said.
And if it was being used to tarnish Corona’s name, then that was wrong, too.

Jimeno however stressed that “at the end of the day” the survey has not much value because it will be the senator-judges who will decide on the case.