Same penalty for the poor and the powerful

Would you punish a dishonest beggar, the way you would sanction a lying millionaire?

That’s not a rhetorical question in the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Often mentioned by senators who voted to convict Corona was how the law should be equally applied, whether one is powerful or poor.

They cited a 15-year-old Supreme Court decision where a court interpreter from Davao was dismissed from government service for not disclosing her ownership of a market stall in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

The chief justice at the time was Andres Narvasa.  In 1997, Corona was already deep in a privileged government career  as legal counsel of President Fidel V. Ramos and a member of the cabinet. Nowhere in his horizon did the fate of a simple court employee in Davao figure as a significant event.

That is until this week, when the 23-member Senate discharged their duty to decide whether the highest magistrate of the land had committed an act of dishonesty serious enough to remove him for office.

Sen. Sergio Osmeña III, in explaining his vote of “guilty”, said the Supreme Court had handed down “numerous” decisions on SALN violations by government officials and employees in the past.

The Rabe vs. Flores case of 1997 stood out because it was also about a court worker who had failed to disclose  property.

The Regional Trial Court Branch IV in Panabo, Davao punished Delsa Flores for failing to disclose ownership of a stall in a public market in her SALN.

She lost not only her job but forfeited all her retirement benefits and accrued  leave credits.  She was  barred her from reemployment in government, including in government-owned or – controlled corporations.

The Supreme Court said Flores’ failure “to disclose her business interest, which she herself admitted, is inexcusable and is a clear violation” of Republic Act No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees.

The cost of that undeclared market stall pales couldn’t have been more than P5,000.

It certainly pales in comparison to the $2.4 million in four dollar accounts and over P80 million in other bank accounts that Corona tearfully admitted before the Senate. But the logical end should be the same if lady justice is truly blind.

“We should not penalize a poor man for stealing bicycle but rule that the rich man must first steal a Mercedes before he is subject to a similar penalty,” Osmeña said.

“We must tell all the Ms. Floreses that justice is to the best of our ability, applied equally to the rich and powerful, as well as the poor and powerless.”

With Corona’s government career in shambles and the first-ever ouster of a Philippine Chief Justice, we’ve seen a rare application of the principle of equal application of the law bring down a high public official official to the same misery of an errring employee.