Senators debunk Corona's 'one-man rule' claim

MANILA, Philippines - The claim of Chief Justice Renato Corona, who is facing an impeachment trial at the Senate, that the country is reeling toward a dictatorship is not real, senators said today.

"I do not agree that there is a creeping dictatorship rather it is the opposite. The government right now is more open and transparent,” Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, an ally of President Benigno Aquino III, said at the sidelines of the South East Asia Parliamentarians Against Corruption and Global Organization of Parliamentarians Against Corruption workshop at the Traders Hotel in Manila.

Guingona said there is "openness and transparency" under the administration of President Aquino, contrary to what the embattled chief justice is trying to picture.

"For example on the budget where you can already see in the DBM website where the budget goes, especially the PDAF of legislators and the participation of the civil society. Even in the preparation, through consultation of the civil society. These are earmarks of transparency," he said.

Sen. Edgardo Angara, who also attended the workshop, agreed with Guingona.

Angara said that a one-man rule, which is what Corona is saying that the country is falling into, "is where you silence everyone."

"What he says is and what your wish is everyone's command. I think we are not in the state right now," the senator said.

Speaking before 330 officers and members of the Philippine Women Judges Association (PWJA) in their silver anniversary convention at the Manila Hotel, Corona said joint efforts by the executive and its allies in the legislature to oust him pose a threat to the country’s democracy.

“Recent events point out that our nation is now in grave peril of teetering toward one-man rule where executive action aims to shield, shackle judicial independence, undermine the rule of law and erode the system of governance, particularly the principle of the mechanism of checks and balances,” he warned.

It was not the first time that Corona took a swipe at President Aquino, who openly supported his impeachment.

Last December, he publicly accused the President of trying to control the SC in his “baluktot na daang matuwid” (crooked righteous path) purportedly leading the road to a dictatorial government that his late great parents had fought.

“And now, I tell them: I am against their relentless insults, finger-pointing and threats. I am against the dictatorship that President Benigno Simeon Aquino III is slowly forming,” Corona said then before a crowd of supporters prior to the start of his trial at the Senate sitting as impeachment court.

Yesterday, he again explained how “transient power holders of the government” undermine the independence of the judiciary through attacks, his impeachment case included.

“We are fighting for judicial independence, to shield the judiciary from improper influence and pressure from any grave abuse of discretion committed by any unit or agency of the Philippine government,” he said.

Corona is facing an impeachment trial at the Senate. His lawyers have presented at least six witnesses, who outlined the sources of income of the embattled chief justice.

Majority of the senator-judges, however, are saying that Corona should take the witness stand to explain his alleged underdeclaration and nondeclaration in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.