GMA News Online News » Nation

Embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona on Monday accused President Benigno Aquino III of violating the 1987 Constitution for Malacañang’s alleged attempt to bribe senator-judges in his impeachment trial.

 

“The President has clearly committed an impeachable offense when he came out swinging by openly urging the senator-judges to disobey the Constitution he has personally sworn to uphold,” Corona said in a statement.

 

In his statement, Corona also described his ongoing impeachment trial as a sham and a way of the administration to block the distribution of Hacienda Luisita land, which the President’s family owns.

 

“Itong impeachment trial na ito ay isang huwad, isang paghihiganti ng sukdulan at kahiya-hiyang tangka na pigilin ang pagbabahagi ng lupain sa Hacienda Luisita,” he said.

 

On Sunday, Corona’s lawyers bared an alleged attempt by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. to bribe senator-judges in the impeachment trial with P100 million to defy the Supreme Court (SC) order barring the opening of the chief justice’s dollar accounts.

 

Ochoa has since denied the defense camp’s claim, describing the allegation as “unsubstantiated” and a “desperate gimmick.”

At the resumption of the trial on Monday, a number of senator-judges stood up to deny the defense panel's claims, and even sought an explanation from Corona's lawyers to go with a warning to be cited in contempt. 
 

‘Products of toil and honest work’

 

In the same statement, Corona maintained that the money in his bank account and all his other properties were obtained through “honest” means.

 

“Throughout my public career, I have never been involved in any anomaly or scandal. Whatever assets my wife and I have acquired are products of 45 years of toil and honest work,” he said.

 

The chief justice likewise said he and his wife, Cristina, came from “privileged” families and that they accumulated “significant savings” over the past 40 years.

 

“We have lived simple and frugal lives since we got married more than 40 years ago, to the point of thriftiness. This contributed to how we have been able to accumulate these assets,” he said.

 

Corona also told members of the prosecution team that the burden to prove any of his alleged wrongdoings must be “theirs and theirs alone.”

 

“Do not extract it from me through means that are foul, coercive and illegal because this can only mean one thing: You did not have any iota of evidence against me when you filed the impeachment complaint,” he told prosecutors in his statement.

 

“To the prosecution team, I do know my law. I have not broken any law. I have no liability to the people and to the government. What my wife and I have is the fruit of hard and honest,” he added.

 

The chief magistrate also hit the prosecution for trying “to enlist the assistance of certainly patently partisan and inquisitorial senator-judges to help obtain the evidence.”

 

The defense camp earlier asked Senator Franklin Drilon to inhibit from the proceedings for supposed partiality towards the prosecution team. The Senate chose not to act on this motion for inhibition, saying that it is Drilon’s choice whether or not participate in the impeachment proceedings. 

Drilon refused to inhibit from the proceedings. — RSJ, GMA News