Impeachment sent Corona to his grave — Miriam

Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Friday expressed her sadness over the death of disgraced Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona as she reiterated her position in the infamous 2012 impeachment trial that he was innocent of the corruption allegations filed against him.

“My deepest sympathies to Chief Justice Corona’s family and loved ones,” Santiago said in her Twitter account.

Corona succumbed to cardiac arrest at 1:48 a.m. Friday at The Medical City in Pasig City. He was 67 years old.

Interviewed by reporters during her campaign sortie at the University of Negros Occidental - Recoletos in Bacolod City, Santiago said she has always believed that Corona was innocent of the charges against him.

“I would have hoped he would redeem himself,” Santiago, a former trial court judge, said.

Corona was facing criminal and civil cases before the Sandiganbayan and the Court of Tax Appeal (CTA) in connection with his alleged ill-gotten wealth, which stemmed from his supposed misdeclaration of assets in his Statement of Assets Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) from 2001 to 2011.

In May 2012, the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, voted 20-3 in favor of the conviction of Corona for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution over non-declaration of several assets, including real estate properties in his SALNs, causing his removal from the Supreme Court.

Santiago was among the three senators who voted for Corona’s acquittal. The other two were her running mate, vice presidential candidate Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and the late senator Joker Arroyo.

Asked if she believes that Corona’s removal from the SC might have contributed to the rapid decline of his health, Santiago said: “It helped send him to the grave.”

Selective justice

In a statement, Marcos likewise expressed his sadness over Corona’s demise.

“It is always sad to note the passing of a man like Chief Justice Renato Corona to whom a great injustice was visited and it is unfortunate that at the time of his death, he was still under this cloud that remained above him since the impeachment trial,” Marcos said.

Marcos reiterated his earlier stand that Corona was a victim of “selective justice” of the administration of President Benigno Aquino III.

“He was clearly a part of the selective justice. I hope that his passing will finally bring him peace from the troubles of the day-to-day work,” Marcos said.

Corona had earlier maintained that he was innocent of all the charges against him saying he was a victim of political vendetta of the Aquino administration for ruling in favor of the distribution of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita land to farmers.

In a privilege speech in 2013, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada bared that he and his fellow senators were bribed with P50 million each by the Aquino administration to vote in favor of Corona’s conviction in the impeachment case. — APG, GMA News