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Friday, February 17, 2012

Dishonesty

AMADO P. MACASAET

‘This dishonesty, in fact violation of the law which the Chief Justice is sworn to uphold, must be punished.’

HIS own records tend to show that the Chief Justice has been dishonest in at least two cases. The first was when he lied by not listing all of his assets in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

It was dishonesty by design, committed to evade the law that punishes government officials and employees who acquire wealth that their salaries cannot justify. That is why the wealth, presumed by the Chief Justice himself in a ruling that he himself penned, is prima facie evidence of ill-gotten assets.

That subject has been extensively discussed during the impeachment trial.

The second is moral dishonesty. When he was asked to disclose his SALN, he said he would do so "in due time."

He did not keep his word. The SALN had to be subpoenaed. The contents blew up in his face.

When it was discovered that he had an initial deposit of $700,000 again not disclosed in his SALN he again said he will do so "in due time."

But he refused to make good his word. On the contrary, he went to his peers in the Supreme Court to stop the senators from examining the accounts. The effect of the TRO is to encourage dirty money to be deposited in the Foreign Currency Deposit Unit.

Chief Justice Corona invokes the sanctity of deposits in the FDCU. He does not want anyone to examine his deposits although he concurred in a Supreme Court ruling that only foreigners may be allowed to make dollar deposits in the FCDU.

This, even to the mind of a nitwit, means the deposits of foreigners are sacred. They cannot be examined. But the Chief Justice is not a foreigner. He cannot explain how he got the money.

This dishonesty, in fact violation of the law which the Chief Justice is sworn to uphold, must be punished. Otherwise, as we said earlier, the Chief Justice will be allowed to benefit from his own "crime."

As if he or Mrs. Arroyo continues to believe that the Supreme Court is in their pockets, Chief Justice Corona summoned the courage to petition his court for one more TRO, this time stopping the impeachment trial.

The effort is another sign of dishonesty. Don’t we all remember that he said earlier he will never resign? He will defend himself to the last drop of his blood. He did no wrong. He went on to say "patayin muna ninyo ako." (You better kill me before I resign).

Why doesn’t he now want to face trial? Because all the evidence like SALN and hidden wealth are staring the senator judges in the face? We cannot see another reason.

Of course, the defense is using every trick - some not in the book - to save Corona’s scalp.

One of them is a petition for TRO stopping the trial. Let one be issued so we can see for ourselves whether or not the Senate will defend its independence from the Judiciary.

We want to see a constitutional crisis that may ensue from such a TRO.

We want to see how much longer the people represented by the senators will tolerate the abuses of the Supreme Court. These are abuses committed to save the scalp of Gloria Arroyo from charges of plunder.

In a malfunctioning democracy "criminals" seek refuge from the Supreme Court. In a Supreme Court where the intent of the law is bent to favor a leader who knows her liabilities but tries to escape them, the Chief Justice plays a vital role either in upholding the law or "raping" it to save the errant leader.

The Supreme Court is now in a bind: Would the magistrates, particularly the eight who remain loyal to Gloria Arroyo and not to the Constitutionand the laws stop the Senate from continuing the trial of the Chief Justice?

They can if they want to. A TRO against the Senate is as "heinous" a crime as "misinterpreting" the Constitution to allow Gloria Arroyo to appoint a Chief Justice sworn to protect her though not by an official oath but by the way he leads the Court.

The difference this time is the fact that the TRO, if issued, is a slap on the independence of the Legislative. It will be disobeyed.

Such is the case of Chief Justice Corona.

It turns out after 16 days of impeachment trials that he could not defend himself from the charges stated in the articles of impeachment. The documentary evidence all points to his guilt.
The unfitness of Mr. Corona to lead the Court is not just in the evidence of his guilt. His demeanor disqualifies him from the post.

Trapped by a mountain of documentary evidence showing he has assets not stated in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth, he dares the public to find them so they can have them.

The assets are there as proven by the records of the Land Registration Administration and certified as true and correct by the documents submitted by a few registers of deeds and their oral testimonies before the impeachment Court.

The Chief Justice denies having made an "initial deposit" of $700,000 in a savings bank.

So why does he oppose the issuance of a subpoena requiring the bank to produce the records of his deposits?

He has said there are none. If he is not lying, it is precisely the production of the records that will prove his innocence.

Now his lawyers resort to technicalities to find an escape route for their client.

How does one deal with a Chief Justice left furious if not nervous by documentary evidence of wrongdoing?

The honorable way out is to resign. But resign he repeatedly tells the people, his enemies and friends, he will not.

The man does not realize that conviction awaits him. That is a fate he brought upon himself. President Aquino wants to right a wrong, a wrong that could save the neck of Gloria Arroyo from charges of plunder if the Chief Justice is not removed from office. The lawyers talk about law. We simple folks talk about facts. We simple folks hold dear to our hearts the fact that the Chief Justice has a minus 15 per cent negative rating.

lf the impeachment court pronounces him innocent, we will to a man pronounce the senator judges guilty. By doing that we would have lent substance to what the doctrine that democracy is for the people, of the people, and by the people. Not by the Chief Justice and the senator judges who can, if they want to, shamelessly save him from the gallows.

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