PROADMINISTRATION Sen. Franklin Drilon asked Chief Justice Renato Corona on Thursday to recuse from all cases brought before the Supreme Court against former President Gloria Arroyo under whom Corona had served in various sensitive posts in Malacañang.
Appearing at Thursday’s regular Kapihan sa Senado media forum, Drilon told reporters he was calling on Corona to recuse for four reasons.
“One, Chief Justice Corona served as chief of staff and spokesman for former President Arroyo before Mrs. Arroyo became president. As chief of staff of then-Vice President Gloria Arroyo, the now Chief Justice Corona had to take positions that required him to engage in partisan politics,” Drilon said.
The second reason, he added, was that “he [Corona] was called a midnight appointee and when he was appointed by the former President as Chief Justice in May 2010, this created a lot of controversy. Of course, this has been legally affirmed by the Supreme Court itself, but nevertheless, in the public perception, in the bar of public opinion, it cannot be denied that this appointment as Chief Justice in May 2010 would create the impression in the public mind that he is a favored justice of former President Gloria Arroyo.”
Drilon cited as his third reason the record of the Chief Justice as a member of the Supreme Court that, the senator noted, was “untarnished by any vote against the policies of Gloria Arroyo.”
Chief Justice Corona, Drilon pointed out, “consistently without fail, supported GMA in all the cases that came before the Supreme Court involving then President GMA during the tenure of the former President when cases came up before the Supreme Court.”
“Fourth [reason], of course again this perception that there is personal animosity and disappointment by Chief Justice Renato Corona when it was Justice Conchita Carpio-Morales who was asked to administer the oath of the President,” he said.
Ceasar’s wife
DRILON added that “regardless of all the denials, tao lang naman si Chief Justice, siyempre nasaktan siya when the President did not ask him to administer the oath. I submit that like Ceasar’s wife, the Supreme Court, as well as the Chief Justice, must be beyond suspicion on its objectivity and impartiality.”
He said the voluntary recusation of Chief Justice Corona from all cases involving former President Arroyo will certainly erase all doubts about the impartiality of the Supreme Court, and will eventually strengthen the Supreme Court as one of the democratic institutions of government.
“Public trust is to the strength of the Supreme Court as an institution of democracy. We cannot afford to have the courts, or to have a situation, where the trust in the court is eroded because of the perception of lack of impartiality. We cannot afford to have a situation where the confidence of the people on the court is eroded. This is a very frightening situation where the people will not believe that the court is impartial,” he said.
Drilon explained it is “for that reason, for the sake of the Supreme Court, for the sake of our democratic institutions, [that] we call on Chief Justice Renato Corona to inhibit himself from the deliberations involving the cases of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.”
Later in the day, Sen. Francis Pangilinan joined Drilon in urging Corona to recuse from the cases involving his former boss, Mrs. Arroyo.
“This will help spare the Supreme Court from doubts that, under Corona’s leadership, it is biased in favor of the former President and her husband,” Pangilinan said.
With all the controversies the SC is currently embroiled in, Pangilinan pointed out that “the matter of CJ Corona voluntarily inhibiting himself from GMA’s court cases will ease the public’s mind as to where the SC’s loyalty lies.”
Pangilinan agreed that “Corona has been widely criticized for being a ‘midnight appointee’ of Mrs. Arroyo.”
GMA’s safety assured
THE National Police assured on Thursday Mrs. Arroyo’s security even if the court orders her confinement in an ordinary detention facility.
The assurance was made by the National Police chief, Director General Nicanor Bartolome, as the Regional Trial Court in Pasay City is poised to hear Arroyo’s petition for a house arrest.
Lawyers of the former President have petitioned the court to just order the holding of the former President in her residence, rather than confining her to a holding facility while it was hearing the case of electoral sabotage against her.
Arroyo is currently confined at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Taguig City.
Bartolome said the force will secure Arroyo, regardless of the place of her confinement.
“Whatever the court will say, we will follow. Ours is only security. Whatever the court decides, we will secure her,” he said.
“We will wait for the time that they will ask us to recommend [place of detention], but for now, I think they will not ask us to recommend,” he added.
A detention room has been prepared by the Southern Police District in one of its buildings inside its compound, and this was even before the court ordered Arroyo’s temporary hospital arrest.
Bartolome said the room was prepared by the police so that it will not be caught flat footed.
Meanwhile, Bartolome said they have not determined yet who released the mug shots of Arroyo, adding that it is still the subject of a continuing investigation.
However, he insisted that the mug shots were not authentic ones as claimed by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, which took them.
(With R. Acosta)
