Palace laments CBCP president's stand on CJ case

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang is finding it hard to believe that Catholic bishops have taken the side of the defense team in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, at least on the issue of his dollar accounts. 

“Unfortunately, we did not hear from Archbishop (Jose) Palma to ferret out the truth, which is normally the call of the CBCP (Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines),” Undersecretary Abigail Valte lamented in Filipino, during an interview with radio dzRB. 

The deputy presidential spokesperson explained that just like everybody else, they only wanted the truth to come out with regard to Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.

Valte nonetheless acknowledged that it is up to the senator-judges to decide whether to abide by the freeze order.

She also reiterated the palace position that the impeachment court is not exercising its legislative functions, but rather holding a judicial proceeding in finding out if there is a need to remove Corona as chief magistrate for betraying public trust.

“The senators sitting (as judges) in the impeachment court do not exercise legislative functions because that is where (the principle of) co-equal and separate branches of government comes in,” she explained.

Valte, however, agreed with former justice undersecretary and defense counsel Ramon Esguerra that Corona has not yet been convicted of any crime so he should be presumed innocent. 

But Valte said since Corona holds a very sensitive position in the judiciary, he should allow the impeachment court to open his dollar account if he really has nothing to hide. 

“Their defense is: there is nothing wrong in having a dollar account. That is correct, there is really nothing wrong, but what makes it wrong is that he did not include it in his SALN,” Valte noted.

The Supreme Court (SC) issued earlier a temporary restraining order (TRO) barring the opening of Corona’s Philippine Savings Bank dollar accounts amounting to an estimated $700,000, or roughly P30 million, citing Republic Act 6426 or the Foreign Currency Deposits Act.

CBCP: Senate should respect TRO

Meanwhile, the CBCP told the senator-judges to respect the TRO, an official said over the weekend.

“There is a law of secrecy for dollar accounts. It is more academic for the Senate to respect the TRO.” CBCP president Jose Palma said during an interview with Radio Veritas.

Palma explained, “We are not siding with anyone. The ball is now in the hands of the Senate. Let us just trust and respect the process.”

Lipa, Batangas Archbishop Ramon Arguelles said, the impeachment trial should be stopped “to save the country from institutional disaster.”

According to Arguelles, officials accused of wrongdoing should be tried in court.

“The charges of corruption must be done in another forum and when proven guilty, the Chief Justice should be convicted and barred from (any) government position for good. The nation would then be saved from unscrupulous politicians,” he explained.  However, for Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, the impeachment court is the right venue for ferreting out the truth on Corona’s possible offenses. “The impeachment must be finished to get the truth,” he said.

Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes shares this opinion. “It (impeachment) must go on to find more truth about Corona,” he said.

Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches national director Bishop Efraim Tendero also voiced his belief that the trial of Corona should go on. – With Paolo Romero, Christina Mendez