‘Corona not morally qualified’

Describing him as "not morally qualified," an uncle of the wife of Presidential Chief of Staff Renato Corona blocked yesterday his nomination to the Supreme Court.

Jose Ma. Basa III said: "I believe he is not morally qualified to occupy a very noble position in the judiciary, especially in the SC where the justices are selected for their intellectual prowess, uprightness, fairness and respect of the law."

Basa, the maternal uncle of Corona’s wife, Cristina Roco, said Corona will not be able to render fair and just decisions because he has "not exhibited such character" of a justice of the Supreme Court.

In a one-page letter to the Judicial and Bar Council, Basa said Corona and Cristina tried to take over the family business–the Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc.– by preventing them from holding a stockholders’ meeting.

"With the intention of gaining control over BGEI, Cristina, with the tacit consent of Corona, filed two cases with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) purposely to prevent us from holding a stockholders’ meeting," read Basa’s letter.

Basa said Corona managed to get a "questionable ruling" from the SEC that has prevented them from holding a stockholders’ meeting for the past 10 years.

"Cristina is administering the corporation all by herself without rendering any accounting to the stockholders, despite demands," read Basa’s letter.

Basa said he "strongly opposes" Corona’s nomination to the Supreme Court because he is tolerating and condoning the "unfair and unlawful" actions of Cristina of running the family corporation "all by herself" without authority from the stockholders.

Of the seven nominees, Corona was said to be the only one who had received a "negative feedback."

The other nominees are: Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Antonio Carpio, former justice secretary Artemio Tuquero, former Commission on Elections chairman Harriet Demetriou, ACCRA senior partner Rogelio Vinluan, Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Francis Garchitorena, and Justice Edilberto Sandoval, also of the anti-graft court. –Delon Porcalla