MANILA, Philippines - Defending the impeachment court’s 20-3 ruling to oust Renato Corona as chief justice, senators continued to declare yesterday that their votes involved no political considerations.
However, it has become apparent that some of the 23 senator-judges consulted each other prior to deciding the fate of Corona.
After meeting with the group of Senate President Juan Ponce, Nacionalista Party president Manuel Villar Jr. met with siblings Alan and Pia Cayetano on the eve of the final verdict or last Monday night.
Sen. Alan Cayetano said the meeting with Villar over cups of coffee was more of analyzing the arguments of the defense on the foreign currency law and its conflict with the law on the statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
“We did not discuss what our votes will eventually be,” he said. “Judges, whether from court of appeals, court of tax appeals, Sandiganbayan, Supreme Court, really meet in chambers.”
Sen. Edgardo Angara believes the meeting between Enrile and six other senators should not be misconstrued as a pre-judgment of Corona.
“That’s only one-third (of the senators).... It cannot lead to a conclusion that there was pre-judgment,” he said.
Angara said he was not invited to the meeting on Sunday at the house of Sen. Loren Legarda in Makati.
“They may have already had an inclination to vote like that,” he said.
Enrile met with Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Gregorio Honasan, and Vicente Sotto III, along with Sen. Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats president, and Villar.
Enrile and Estrada are leaders of Pwersa ng Masang Pilipino (PMP), which has a coalition with the PDP-Laban of Vice President Jejomar Binay known as United Nationalist Alliance (UNA).
Sotto ran as an independent during the last elections.
In a statement yesterday, Revilla said no one influenced him in rendering the guilty verdict on Corona.
“My vote is a personal decision based on my own understanding and study of the pieces of evidence submitted to the impeachment court, as well as of the testimonies of the witnesses and of the accused himself,” he said. “No one influenced me in rendering that verdict, not even my party.”
Revilla’s was the 16th vote that completed the two-thirds of the chamber needed for a conviction.
Revilla said it was one of the toughest decisions in his life.
“I have no regrets when I made that decision,” he said.
“As I have explained in the impeachment trial, it was a difficult decision but I made it for the sake of unity and healing the nation.
“It was also a decision to strengthen the government institutions and for the welfare of future generations.”
‘Focus on fighting crime’
President Aquino may now focus on issues like rising criminality now that the impeachment of Corona is over, the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) said yesterday.
“Now that the chief justice has been removed from office, the President should attend to the problem of rising criminality that took an alarming upswing with all the government attention unduly diverted to the just concluded impeachment trial,” VACC founding chairman Dante Jimenez said.
“Our government should heed the clarion call for greater accountability, not make lame excuses of being exempted from the law on SALN and foreign deposit accounts because they are not the ones on trial.”
VACC challenged all government officials to follow the example of Corona and also bare their bank accounts.
“VACC staunchly campaigns against corruption in government as part of its advocacy,” the VACC said.
“The chief justice has waived the secrecy of all his bank deposits and opened to the public his bank accounts.
“All public officials without exemption – including the President – should not pass up this challenge for them to show their genuine sincerity to serve the people with honesty and transparency of their positions.”
The VACC lauded the senator-judges for completing the impeachment process after a “fair and credible trial.”
“The law does not make distinctions, no matter who you are, chief justice or not,” the VACC said.
“We commend the senator-judges for completing the difficult impeachment process and coming up with a decision that is fair and credible.”
“We believe that this impeachment process, the first to be completed though agonizing it was, will go down in history with the exulting revelation that yes, we Filipinos can do it, the process of impeachment works,” he said.
“We likewise believe that this successful impeachment of the chief justice will go down in our history with the dawning of hope that yes, without excuses, our government representatives and officials should abide by the same laws that convicted the chief justice.
“Let the law on SALN and its IRR be strengthened by way of no exemption in its application to any congressman, senator and to the President of the Philippines and his Cabinet.” – With Sandy Araneta, Edu Punay