Corona: I have no fear

SC MASS Chief Justice Renato Corona greets Lipa Archbishop Ramon Arguelles during Mass inside the Supreme Court compound on the eve of his testimony in the Senate impeachment court. NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

“Walang kakaba-kaba [No fear at all].”

Chief Justice Renato Corona was smiling when he said he had no fear in reply to a question from reporters Monday on the eve of his testimony before a Senate impeachment court that would decide his fate after a four-month trial.

As for the reported lobbying by  the influential Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) to ensure his acquittal, he said, “I don’t know about that.”

The 63-year-old Corona looked calm as he joined his family and about 200 supporters at a Mass celebrated by Lipa City Archbishop Ramon Arguelles at the Supreme Court compound.

“He is considered a man with respect,” Arguelles told the Philippine Daily Inquirer. “Everybody is innocent until proven guilty.”

Clad in a brown polo barong, Corona arrived with his wife, Cristina, a few minutes before the noon Mass organized by court employees and supporters, who were in red shirts emblazoned with the words “Acquit Corona.”

Jojo Guerrero, president of the Supreme Court Employees Association, said the group and other organizations supporting Corona would hold a prayer vigil starting at 4 a.m. Tuesday at the high court’s grounds in Manila ahead of their send-off ceremony for the Chief Justice.

“We are one with our Chief Justice in defending the judiciary and uncovering the truth behind these baseless accusations,” Guerrero said.

“We believe that the Chief Justice would be able to explain his side credibly and controvert the allegations thrown at him,” he said in Filipino.

No court holiday

Guerrero said that while Supreme Court Administrator Jose Midas Marquez did not declare a court holiday, court workers were expected to flock to the Senate to show their support for Corona while others would watch the live telecast of the impeachment proceedings from their offices.

“That’s why we’re asking for the understanding of the public because it’s inevitable that our work would be affected,” Guerrero said.

House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales Jr. said the House might suspend its session Tuesday to allow the 188 representatives who signed the articles of impeachment to watch Corona’s testimony.

Tranquil Salvador III, one of the defense spokespersons, said the entire nation should wait for Corona’s explanations on his supposed 82 dollar bank deposits and other allegations of corruption against him.

“It would be a historic one,” Salvador told the Inquirer when asked to describe the testimony of the first Chief Justice impeached by the House of Representatives.

“I don’t want to second-guess (Corona’s) testimony. I don’t want to elaborate on it. But who knows. He may just spring a surprise during the proceedings,” he continued.

The prosecution lodged eight articles of impeachment against Corona for alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and corruption, but this had been pruned to three articles and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile further distilled the whole slew of charges to just one question: Did the Chief Justice fudge entries in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth?

Sixteen votes in the 23-member chamber are needed to convict Corona.

After Corona’s questioning by the prosecution and senator-judges, the two panels will be given one hour to argue their respective positions after which, Enrile said, the senators would be called immediately to announce their verdict.

Prayers for kinder senators

Rico Paolo Quicho, a member of the defense panel, said Corona’s legal team had been “preparing very hard” for the cross-examination of the prosecution panel.

“We’re ready to face the prosecutors. We’re ready to lock horns with them. We’re willing to go 12 rounds against them,” he said.

While the defense could deal with the prosecutors and interpose objections to their questions, they could not debate with the senator-judges, some of whom had shown bias and even helped the prosecution lawyers secure evidence they had missed from witnesses during the trial that began on  January 15.

Asked how they would deal with the senators, Quicho said: “We have started praying. Hopefully, they would be kinder and that they would be gentle to us because we can’t object to their questions.”

“We’re just hoping for fairness and that they will wake up on the right side of the bed today,” he said.

“The Chief Justice understands that it would not be easy for him. He knows that he will not only answer questions from senator-judges, but he had to deliver his message to the public and explain the issues being thrown at him for the past six months.”

Salvador expressed confidence that Corona would be able to handle tough questions.

Corona’s ball game

“At this point in time, we have tirelessly prepared for this. But it would be a different thing once he sits there. There are things which we cannot control. It’s his ball game now,” Salvador said.

The lawyer said the defense panel expected Corona to undergo four to five hours of grueling questioning.

Quicho said Corona would face the impeachment court “as somebody who is able and ready to continue his stewardship of the Supreme Court.”

“The Chief Justice would be respectful of the process and we hope the process would also respect him,” Quicho said. With reports from Gil C. Cabacungan and Marrah Erika Lesaba, Inquirer Southern Luzon