Supreme Court junks Corona’s petition

Former Chief Justice Renato Corona. SENATE POOL

The Supreme Court, voting 7-0, has dismissed for being moot the petition of former Chief Justice Renato Corona attacking the impeachment case initiated against him by the members of the House of Representatives and trial conducted by the Senate.

In a 15-page decision dated July 17 but released Wednesday, the high court en banc held that the constitutional issues raised by former Chief Justice Corona “had been mooted by supervening events and his own acts.”

Corona was convicted on May 29, 2012 by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.

The court noted that he immediately accepted the verdict and without any protest vacated his office.

In the decision penned by Justice Martin Villarama Jr., the court explained that “[a]n issue or a case becomes moot and academic when it ceases to present a justiciable controversy so that a determination thereof would be without practical use and value.

In such cases, there is no actual substantial relief to which the petitioner would be entitled to and which would be negated by the dismissal of the petition.”

In his petition, Corona argued that the impeachment court committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction when it proceeded with the trial on the basis of the complaint filed by the lower house which complaint was constitutionally infirm and defective for lack of probable cause. Jerome Aning