Corona hits Aquino over ‘sham’ impeachment trial

MANILA – Former Chief Justice Renato Corona maintained he was unseated by senators exactly a year ago on Wednesday for leading the Supreme Court in issuing a decision to break up the Hacienda Luisita, which is owned by the family of President Benigno Aquino III.

The SC placed the vast sugar estate in Tarlac under the government’s agrarian reform program in its April 24, 2012 ruling and pegged the value in 1989 as actual just compensation due to the hacienda’s owners.

The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) has yet to finish the land distribution. It even asked the SC to help solve the problem of finding an accounting firm that it should engage to audit the pertinent financial records of Hacienda Luisita, Inc. (HLI) and Centenary Holdings, Inc. (CHI).

The audit is in relation to the P1.33-billion compensation to more than 6,200 farmer-worker beneficiaries as a result of the sale of parcels of land in the past years.

“I pray a lot for the poor farmers of Hacienda Luisita that they will someday finally attain justice the Corona Court gave them but which this (Aquino) regime is trying hard to thwart,” Corona said.

Corona said the “gargantuan” funds used by the government for his “sham” impeachment trial could have been channelled to education, better compensation for government employees, health care and medicines for the poor, more courts and halls of justice and infrastructure.

“My commitment to the rule of law, judicial independence and the protection of the downtrodden and oppressed remains very much alive. That will be with me to the end of my days,” the 64-year-old Corona said.

In May last year, the Senate, sitting as impeachment court, voted 20-3 to convict Corona for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Philippine Constitution.

The court ruled that Corona was guilty of Article II of the impeachment complaint: the chief magistrate did not fully disclose his assets in his SALN, after a five-month trial.

Tax evasion charges were filed against Corona after his ouster, which stemmed from his nondeclaration of multi-million peso properties in six annual statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs). He was removed from office for misdeclared cash assets.

“I was never involved in any scandal or corruption. Our assets are acquired through 45 years of holding high positions in the private and public sectors, sheer hard work, and austerity,” said Corona.

He was succeeded in August last year by Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Aquino’s first appointee in the High Court.

Meanwhile, Malacañang said on Wednesday that the Aquino administration is still committed to reform the country’s judiciary.

“It’s still a work in progress,” Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in a press conference when asked if the government sees the judicial reforms that it had hoped for a year after Corona’s ouster.

“Perhaps, the impact immediately that you could already see is the emphasis given on the filing of SALNs [statements of assets, liabilities and net worth] when it comes to employees of the government. But it is still a work in progress,” she said.

“We hope to continue the reforms that the President has been talking about since he was a candidate for the presidency in May 2010,” Valte added.