With a vote of 20 to 3, impeached Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, the unconstitutional midnight appointee of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, was forcefully kicked out of his office as head magistrate of the Philippine Supreme Court, and majority of the Filipinos all over the world rejoiced. We, in the US Pinoys for Good Governance, even held a “Guilty-verdict” Party in California. The celebration and the birth of new hope for our country were indeed global.
In spite of the legal maneuverings of Cuevas, et al. aimed at torpedoing the prosecution team by hiding or twisting the truth, the senator judges, except for the three whose integrity and sense of justice I have always questioned for years, saw the glaring truth and voted wisely. After all, Corona was not the only one on trial here but the nation, the country’s legal system, the senator judges, and the Filipino people’s sense of right and wrong.
The impeachment record shows that “Chief Justice Renato Corona concealed 98 percent of his financial assets in clear violation of public trust….In his SALN, he did not report P180 million in hard cash kept in various bank accounts, referring to the sum of the $2.4 million (about P100 million) the Chief Justice deposited in four banks and the P80 million in commingled funds in three others.” He lied and did not declare many of his properties, either.
Shameless and unconscionable, Corona continued to be arrogant and contemptuous to the end. For a man of his education and stature as Chief Magistrate of the land, he was worse than a common criminal and an insult to his profession, the nation, and our people.
The trial could have been a brief eight-hour inexpensive proceeding, instead of the costly months of deliberation that it was, if the entire cast were a bunch of fifth-graders, who could have easily come up more expeditiously with a better verdict: guilty, with 23 solid votes.
Losing his job as Chief Justice and scorned by the majority of our people, except for those blind and inept supporters of his, is not enough justice for Corona or for the Filipino people. The scathing rejection is a penalty for his failure to declare millions of his money and various properties he was trying very hard to deny were his. He is a most deserving liar and a cheat, and an actor also, so he deserves more.
After that guilty verdict, the impeached former chief justice must now face other civil and criminal charges, like tax evasion, among others, which the Department of Justice, Bureau of Internal Revenue, etc., might deem in order. Corona must not be exempt from criminal prosecution.
This is important because Corona, regardless of his position and wealth, is not above the law. He must be held accountable and culpable for any crimes he may have committed against his own relatives, the Filipino people, our nation, and our constitution. He must have his day in court for other illegal acts. As former chief justice, he must be held to a higher standard of discipline, scruples, and respect for our laws. Corona must be dealt with the full force of the law and justice as it would be for the common tao. The Filipino people deserve justice. Our laws deserve respect, especially from our officials. This detestable and embarrassing event in our history should be a lesson to the crooks among the members of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and their employees, of our government. Unless we start sending criminals in our government to jail, the culture of corruption will continue like the current epidemic. At least, President Noynoy Aquino has taken the bold step at his own peril to break the cycle. The Corona expulsion is a good start.
The saga of the war on corruption is expected to be more exciting and riveting the next few months. After all, it is our nation’s and our people’s reputation, honor, dignity and future which are at stake.
The leading lady in the main event is our former president, now detained for trial, an actress who could not even act convincingly: Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
There was a funny email picture attachment I received recently showing a close-up of Gloria, in her yellow gold dress and wearing a neck brace, looking worried, and saying to herself “S _ _ t, I am next!”
This is the one time she is correct. Indeed, she would be next. And justly so. The massive corruption in her administration, perpetrated by herself, her family, and her co-conspirators, relentlessly continued all throughout her term as president, as 30% of our people languish in abject poverty, hungry, homeless, helpless, and hopeless. Worst of all, the children of these suffering families are denied of education and a future, like their parents.
Corruption in the last seven years of the Arroyo administration has cost the Filipinos at least P7.3 Billion, according to the think tank IBON Foundation in March of 2008. And the systematic thievery went on and on. Among these are the $329.48 ZTE broadband network scam, P728-million fertilizer scam, the Jose Pidal bank accounts, the North Rail projects, the $14-million IMPSA power plant project, the P1.3-billion poll automation project, the Macapagal Boulevard project, and other anomalies that may be exposed soon.
This P7.3 Billion could have been used to provide shelters for the homeless, food for the hungry, education for the indigent children, health services for our penniless sick, and learning skills – job training, and employment opportunities for the marginalized and neglected kababayan of ours. But GMA and her fellow crooks could not care less.
P-Noy has been maligned a lot, blamed for lack of progress in the state of our country by those who have nothing better to do than to criticize from the fence or bench. Nobody, not P-Noy, your or I, can wave a magic wand and make corruption disappear instantly. The culture of corruption in our government (which has also infected the people) is so deep seated and entrenched that it will take decades (and a succession of incorruptible presidents and legislators) to be significantly minimized, if not eradicated.
Thanks to PNoy and other honest government officials, the war on corruption has been waged in earnest, and the cycle has, at least, been broken. We, the people, must be patient and continue to be vigilant and involved. The cancer of graft will take time to heal. Let us elect honest leaders in order to save and transform our country into a nation of dignity, honor, pride, prosperity and peace. This is the least we, as citizens, can do to help.
I remain bullish about the Philippines. I can view a glimmer of hope on the horizon, the dawn of a new day, the beginning of twilight just before a beautiful sunrise. It is a wonderful feeling of anticipation for a glorious history to unfold for our nation.
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Philip S. Chua, MD, FACS, FPCS, Cardiac Surgeon Emeritus in Northwest Indiana and chairman of cardiac surgery from 1997 to 2010 at Cebu Doctors University Hospital, where he holds the title of Physician Emeritus in Surgery, is based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons, the Philippine College of Surgeons, and the Denton A. Cooley Cardiovascular Surgical Society. He is the chairman of the Filipino United Network – USA, a 501(c)(3) humanitarian foundation in the United States. Email:[email protected]
