Ex-CJ Corona championed agrarian reform

Former Chief Justice Renato Corona, who passed away before dawn on Friday, is probably best known—albeit infamously—for being unseated in May 2012 for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution. He was found to have failed to declare P200-million worth of more than 40 properties.

But in Philippine jurisprudence and for thousands of Filipino farmers, the 67-year-old Corona will go down in history as having led the court that made the landmark November 2011 ruling calling for the distribution of land to farmer-tenants of Hacienda Luisita, owned by the clan of President Benigno Aquino III, in Tarlac.

Farm groups immediately hailed Corona as an "agrarian reform champion." Just as quickly, however, he brushed off the tag, refusing to be called a "champion."

"We just did what is right and fair. That is social justice as ordained by the Constitution," he said at the time.

It was this very decision, Corona suspected, that triggered his very impeachment and eventual ouster, speaking of the Aquino's "vindictive regime's" attempts to harass and persecute him due to the ruling.

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

But even before the Luisita ruling, Aquino—or his administration at least—seemed to have been particularly unkind to Corona, with some blaming this treatment to the latter's association with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who once made him her legal adviser and chief of staff in 2001 before installing him as associate justice of the Supreme Court in 2002.

Even Arroyo's appointment of Corona as chief justice in May 2010 caused quite a stir after he was branded as a "midnight appointee," done within the appointment ban during that year's election period.

Under Article VII, Section 15 of the 1987 Constitution, the President is barred from making appointments two months immediately before the next presidential elections and up to the end of his or her term. 

Corona could have actually been unseated two years earlier—as early as 2010—via Aquino's Executive Order No. 2 that nullified midnight appointees. But the Supreme Court stepped in and ultimately ruled that Arroyo could appoint a replacement to then retiring Chief Justice Reynato Puno, saying the election ban does not apply to vacancies in the high court.

As a result of the impeachment trial, Corona—during a summer session in Baguio City in April 2012—told reporters about that one lesson he had learn from it all: “I’ll just fill out everything [in my SALN]. Wala naman tayong tinatago."

Cases vs. Corona

Not too long after his ouster on May 29, 2012, a flurry of criminal charges came Corona's way. It was ironic how the country's top lawyer/judge, who earned various law degrees from Ateneo, Harvard, and UST, would end up on the other side of the bar, defending himself against various complaints.

One was a case for perjury and violation of the Code of Conduct for Public Officials in connection with his alleged misdeclaration of assets, filed with the Sandiganbayan Third Division. 

Another one is a P130.6-million forfeiture case filed with the anti-graft court's Second Division. 

Corona was also sued by the Bureau of Internal Revenue before the Court of Tax Appeals for owing the state around P120.5 million, inclusive of interests and surcharges, due to his failure to pay his right taxes for the years 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010. 

He has been arraigned for six of the 12 tax cases, while hearings for the other half of the cases were temporarily stopped.

Even his wife Cristina, daughter Carla Corona-Castillo, and Carla's husband Constantino Castillo III were not spared from the tax charges.

Smear campaign

But Corona insisted the cases were all part of a smear campaign against him, devised by "propagandists, spin doctors and media operators of this regime" who he said were out to persecute him.

Despite his conviction, the former chief justice remained unrepentant: "Wala akong kinasangkutang katiwalian o iskandalo kailanman sa buong buhay ko. Wala akong kinulimbat sa kaban ng bayan.

"Wala akong ikinahihiya at pinagsisisihan na kahit anumang aspeto ng buhay ko. At higit sa lahat, wala akong utang na kahit na isang kusing na buwis sa gobyerno," Corona said. 

‘Gentle person’

For lawyer Tranquil Salvador, who served as one of Corona's defense spokespersons in the impeachment trial, the most memorable statement he could recall the former chief justice said was still about his innocence.

"I remember him saying, 'Wala akong 47 properties. Meron ako, pito,'" Salvador said on Friday, after learning of Corona's demise at 67. "Beyond his six-foot frame and strong character, he was a gentle person."

The lawyer described the former chief justice as "a good and kind man who believed and stood by the rule of law." 

And true enough, Corona himself had insisted on his allegiance to nothing else but the Constitution, and the oppressed.

"My commitment to the rule of law, judicial independence and the protection of the downtrodden and oppressed remains very much alive. These will be with me to the end of my days," he said. —KG, GMA News