The alleged ill-gotten wealth of Chief Justice Renato Corona during his 10-year tenure as a Supreme Court justice is “irrelevant” in the Senate impeachment trial, one of his lawyers said Monday.
Lawyer Eduardo delos Angeles explained in his opening statement at the start of the trial that the prosecutors were creating “the impression that he [Corona] accumulated ill-gotten wealth,” noting that the impeachment bid should not focus on Corona’s properties as he is accused of graft and corruption and not of acquiring ill-gotten wealth.
Delos Angeles clarified that Corona only owns five real properties, adding that “the pictures of Bellagio [condominium] and the bloated list of titles are therefore irrelevant to this trial.”
The House prosecutors had earlier presented 45 land titles of properties that allegedly belonged to Corona. The titles were acquired from the Land Registration Administration.
The House of Representatives impeached Corona on the following grounds:
partiality and subservience in cases involving the Arroyo administration;
failure to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN);
issuance of flip-flopping decisions in final and executory cases;
issuance of the “status quo ante” order against the House of Representatives in the case concerning the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez;
decision in favor of gerrymandering in the cases involving 16 newly-created cities, and the promotion of Dinagat Island into a province;
mproper creation of the SC ethics committee
granting temporary restraining order in favor of former President Arroyo; and
failure and refusal to account for the Judicial Development Fund (JDF) and special allowance for the judiciary collections.
Delos Angeles said the defense has “documentary evidence” to prove that Corona accounted for the Judiciary Development Fund, as opposed to the accusation by the prosecutors.
“The Supreme Court and the Chief Justice cannot be considered the enemies of the people,” Delos Angeles said, adding that “this impeachment sends a chilling threat to the Supreme Court, to withhold the exercise of it judicial power and just let the President have his way.” — Rouchelle Dinglasan/KBK, GMA News
source:gmanetwork.com
