Joint statement on Supreme Court’s chief justice conviction
Corona Conviction is not a Deterrent to Corruption
Malacanang and its paid hacks in media are now making a mountain out of a molehill. They say that the conviction of Renato Corona by the impeachment court is a triumph of democracy and a cleansing of the bureaucracy. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
The telenovela that was the impeachment of Corona ended with a predictable and lackluster climax, leaving the masses unentertained and not craving for more. The single and simplistic moral lesson of the story: “tell the truth in your SALN”.
Despite the long proceedings, the Senate could only prove one fact: Corona did not properly disclose his dollar deposits in his SALN. Hence, its verdict rested on the sole issue of “non-disclosure”, covered by Article 2, which it raised to a “culpable violation of the Constitution”.
In so doing, the complaint, reduced to Articles 2, 3 and 7 during the deliberations, was further narrowed down to “non-disclosure” (Article 2, paragraph 2.2). It did not determine if such cash assets were ill-gotten or acquired illegally, leaving unanswered the people’s questions on “ill-gotten wealth”, “court decisions for sale”, “misconduct and corrupt practices”, etc., etc. The result was a “narrowing down” not to focus on more substantial issues; the case was watered down to insignificance.
The respondent’s admission of non-disclosure was enough for the prosecution and the senator-judges to obtain a guilty verdict. They did not use Corona’s waiver of his dollar deposits to put such bank accounts under scrutiny. Hence, it is clear as daylight that the real intention of the impeachment court was not to expose and punish immoral conduct and corrupt practices in government but to merely remove Corona in the Supreme Court, to replace an Arroyo crony with an Aquino lackey in the judiciary.
If the impeachment court truly wanted to cleanse the bureaucracy, it should have let the sun shine in the dark and shadowy corridors of power. Let the people know how Corona acquired his millions of dollars; how Lucio Tan compelled the Court to flip-flop on the FASAP (Flight Attendants and Stewardesses Association of the Philippines) case; how much perks and privileges are given by PAL to members of the Supreme Court.
But it did not; the impeachment court stopped in its tracks. It did not go beyond the question of non-disclosure. To the people, especially the workers and the poor, we believe that they did so because further investigation would reveal their modus operandi, the prevalent malpractice of officials in the bureaucracy who use their power and influence for economic and personal gain.
Hence, the conviction of Corona would not be a deterrent to corruption since no “crime” other than “non-disclosure” was established. While government officials should properly disclose their properties in the SALNs, a statement of how much one owns is not enough. Public accountability requires public scrutiny on how such wealth was acquired. Therefore, we reiterate our demand for DISCLOSE ALL, for the full disclosure of all bank records and financial transactions by all government officials – a political reform that would test the Constitutional provision on “sovereignty”, if all power and authority truly resides in and emanates from the people. #
May 30, 2012
Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP)
Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)
SANLAKAS
Choose a pro-people Supreme Court chief justice
We commend the conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona by the senator judges. By doing so, we hope that the process that it started would lead to a new paradigm in good governance as Senator Allan Peter Cayetano had said.
The conviction has already snowballed into an en banc order by the Supreme Court to release the SALNs of all members of the judiciary, and by a number of legislators and government officials volunteering to waive confidentiality of their bank accounts.
Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) believes that for justice to endure, the government should now “open the book” of the top echelon of its bureaucracy to the scrutiny of the public. But disclosing the assets and properties of government officials is also not enough. Public accountability requires public scrutiny on how the wealth was acquired.
In this regard, we ask the P-Noy government to review and reintroduce the idea of the Truth Commission that was rejected by the Corona-led Supreme Court last year. This time around, the commission can be tasked to look into the irregularities committed not only by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo but all the top officials of the land, whether pro-Gloria or pro-Noynoy. The Commission and the Ombudsman can assist each other in ferreting out the anomalies and persecuting all those involved in wrongdoings.
We should not stop at just the waiving of waivers. We should audit all these accounts and assets, and confiscate whatever is ill-gotten or simply unexplainable. The government can use these properties to finance more welfare services for the people. Perhaps, the government would then have enough funds to get rid of the Value Added Tax (VAT) which has become an onerous burden to the poor since its implementation.
Once again, we ask that President Aquino be circumspect in choosing the new Supreme Court chief justice. We believe that one of the main reasons why we have a factionalized Supreme Court is that the power to appoint Supreme Court justices is in the hands of the president.
President Aquino should adopt a transparent approach in choosing the new justices. This can be done in a process that integrates public nomination, consultation and hearings. Independent people’s organizations, including human rights groups, civil society groups, and others should be allowed to nominate members of the Supreme Court based on constitutional requirements. We should refrain from choosing Supreme Court justices who have merely served corporate interests, as there are more laudable lawyers doing meritorious services to the people.
Sonny Melencio
Chair, Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)
01 June 2012