Corona faces crowd of supporters, turns emotional

Chief Justice Renato Corona on Thursday became emotional when he briefly faced the hundreds of his supporters, most of them clad in red, who massed up outside the Supreme Court building in Manila to show their support for him.   A report on GMA News TV’s “On Call” program showed Corona with wife Cristina standing on the balcony of the SC building overlooking the crowd, some of whom carrying placards and streamers that said “Uphold Judicial Freedom” and “Uphold the rule of law.”   In the footage, Corona appeared exulted by the number of his supporters. At one point he was seen waving at the crowd and giving them a flying kiss, while Cristina wiped the sweat off his face.   Corona was also shown raising his hands to the sky, in what seemed as a gesture thanking God.   The Supreme Court en banc was set to tackle later in the day motions related to Corona’s ongoing impeachment trial in the Senate, including his lawyers’ request for the tribunal to stop the proceedings.    The Senate impeachment trial started last January 16 after the House of Representatives, on December 12 last year, impeached him.     Corona, an appointee of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, is being tried for the following grounds:

• partiality and subservience in cases involving the Arroyo administration;
• failure to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN);
• issuance of flip-flopping decisions in final and executory cases;
• issuance of the “status quo ante” order against the House of Representatives in the case concerning the impeachment of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez;
• decision in favor of gerrymandering in the cases involving 16 newly-created cities, and the promotion of Dinagat Island into a province;
• granting temporary restraining order in favor of former President Arroyo; and 
• failure and refusal to account for the Judicial Development Fund (JDF) and special allowance for the judiciary collections