Corona ouster a victory for Filipinos–NDF

DAVAO CITY, Philippines–Chief Justice Renato Corona’s ouster has become a victory for the public, the spokesperson of the National Democratic Front in Mindanao said Friday.

“The public knew he was fraudulently installed as Chief Justice,” Jorge Madlos told the INQUIRER by phone.

Madlos said the government’s anti-corruption drive also got a boost from the conviction of Corona, especially in its efforts to pursue its cases against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and now Pampanga congresswoman and her co-accused.

“His removal as Chief Justice will also add effort of the Aquino administration in (going) after the crimes committed by the past President but we are not sure how serious(ly) the Aguino government will do this,” he said.

He, however, warned that Corona’s ouster also spelled an advantage to the Aquino government as it can now step up efforts to overturn a Supreme Court decision favoring farmers in the Hacienda Luisita issue.

Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac is owned by the Cojuangco relatives of President Aquino.

“They can do many things. They will now be adding an associate justice who can be controlled by the government as they have controlled the Congress and the judiciary,” Madlos said.

The NDF is the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines.

In a separate interview, Father Albert Alejo, the brains behind the anti-corruption group Ehem! said what happened to Corona was a “high moment” in the country’s maturing democracy.

“But unless the people continue to demand honesty from all public officials, nothing can make them open up,” he said, referring to government officials’ statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

“Honesty, we say is the best policy, but not quite!” said Alejo. “What if others are not honest? We used to teach, ‘be honest even if others are not,’ but no, we have to demand honesty from everybody and should not settle for less,” Alejo said. “Demanding honesty is part of shared integrity …,” he added.

A city councilor said she agreed with Alejo.

“The impeachment of Chief Justice Corona alone doesn’t assure absolute transparency in the government,” Davao City Councilor Leah Librado, said.

Alejo said the public should also learn to “scrutinize what was written or declared in the SALNs and check their accuracy.” He said SALNS “will not amount to anything if people do not learn to scrutinize it and to demand nothing less than its accuracy.”