High Court asked to stop impeach proceedings vs Corona
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
MANILA — Two petitioners asked the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday to stop the Senate from proceeding with the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Corona is set to defend himself before the 23-man chamber in January next year after he was indicted for violating the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, as well as charges of graft and corruption.
However, lawyer Vladimir Cabigao said the Chief Justice’s impeachment at the House of Representatives was done in haste, prompting him to ask the SC to issue a temporary restraining order and writ of prohibitory injunction against the Senate impeachment court.
He said congressmen were not even given enough time to review and read the complaint against Corona.
“Its power to initiate the case of impeachment against the Chief Justice was exercised in an arbitrary or despotic manner by reason of passion or personal hostility, so apparent and gross as to amount to an evasion of positive duty or to a virtual refusal to perform the duty enjoined or to act at all in contemplation of law,” the 15-page petition read.
Cabigao even quoted reports that the Aquino government tried to use its power in withholding the releases of the P70-million Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) for congressmen to sign the impeachment complaint.
“If this was the case, it could further be said that the signatures obtained by respondent House of Representatives was a product of undue influence. According to Article 1337, New Civil Code, there is undue influence when a person takes improper advantage of his power over the will of another, depriving the latter of a reasonable freedom of choice,” he said.
Danilo Lihay-lihay, who regularly files cases against big-time tax evaders, echoed Cabigao.
He sought to nullify the impeachment complaint against Corona, saying the offenses cited by the House in its impeachment complaint were only intended to shame Corona and weaken the judiciary.
Lihay-lihay said the 188 congressmen who signed the complaint had sought to substitute their judgment for the SC, constituting an “unmitigated intervention in the exercise of the powers and duties of the SC.”
Last year, he filed a plunder complaint against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for the P1-billion alleged anomalous sale of a property owned by Iloilo airport to Megaworld Corp. in 2007. The Department of Justice already recommended the dismissal of this case for lack of evidence but final review of the case is with the Ombudsman.
Last week, Batangas Representative Hermilando Mandanas was fired as chairman of the powerful House ways and means committee after refusing to sign the complaint.
However, President Benigno Aquino III said the lawmaker was replaced because he had a different stand on the revenue-generating measures of the government.
Mandanas is a member of the Aquino-led Liberal Party.
Cabigao was the counsel for the non-government Social Justice Society, which suffered a legal setback at the Court of Appeals (CA) last March on an issue involving the examination of the oil companies’ financial records.
In April 2009, Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. ordered the so-called “Big Three” oil firms Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., and Chevron Philippines Inc. to open their books to know if they are indeed involved in trade monopoly, predatory pricing and cartelization.
However, the CA said the Commission on Audit (COA), Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the Bureau of Customs (BOC) had a pending petition before the Supreme Court also asking the nullification of Pampilo’s decision.
Under the principle of judicial courtesy, a lower court should desist from proceeding upon a case even in the absence of a temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction, the CA said.
Members of the 11-man prosecution panel, including House justice committee chairman Niel Tupas Jr., meanwhile, will start its work on the impeachment case against Corona this month.
“We will meet this week for the organizational structure and assignment of articles,” Tupas said in a text message referring to the eight articles of impeachment.
The prosecution panel is composed of Tupas, Farinas, Deputy Speakers Lorenzo “Erin” Tanada (Quezon) and Raul Daza (Northern Samar), Cavite Representative Elpidio Barzaga, Jr., and Representatives Joseph Emilio Abaya (Cavite), Giorgidi Aggabao (Isabela), Kaka Bag-ao (Akbayan party-list), Neri Colmenares (Bayan Muna party-list), and Reynaldo Umali (Mindoro Oriental).
The Senate will start its impeachment hearings when Congress resumes session on January 17.
In a related development, House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said the Committee on Justice will continue hearing the impeachment case against Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo despite its busy schedule due to the separate move to impeach SC chief Renato Corona.
“The justice committee will have to work very hard. We will have to deal with those two problems but I’m sure that we will manage,” Belmonte told reporters.
Deputy Majority Leader Rodolfo Farinas earlier said Del Castillo will likely be let off with a warning from the House justice committee since members of the panel will busy themselves in the next few months with Corona’s impeachment.
Del Castillo was accused of plagiarizing a High Court ruling on comfort women during World War II with at least 11 lawmakers calling for his impeachment. (Virgil Lopez/Kathrina Alvarez/JCV/Sunnex)
http://www.sunstar.com.ph/manila/local-news/2011/12/20/high-court-asked-stop-impeach-proceedings-vs-corona-196638
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