Renato Corona Denies Guilty of Impeachment Charges

Posted by Maribojoc Bohol on January 16th, 2012 in Local News

By Lilybeth G. Ison and Perfecto T. Raymundo, Jr.

Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, who is alleged to have betrayed the public trust, violated the Constitution, and committed graft and corruption, on Monday entered a “not guilty plea” against all charges hurled against him.

The plea was made through his counsel, retired Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas, who told the Senate impeachment court that the chief magistrate was present to show his respect for the Senate impeachment court.

Clad in their new robes, 21 of the 23 senator-judges convened past 2 p.m. on Monday for the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Corona.

Crossing party lines and with 188 votes, the House of Representatives impeached Corona as the SC’s 23rd Chief Justice anchored on three grounds — graft and corruption, culpable of violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust.

Among others, the eight articles of impeachment filed against Corona included his alleged non-disclosure of his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), and his alleged favorable “voting trend” on a number of cases involving former President and now Pampanga (2nd District) Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

During the entry of appearance of the defense panel, Cuevas said that Chief Justice Corona was present pursuant to the invitation of the Senate Impeachment Court in order to show respect to the Senator-judges as a body.

Cuevas said that Corona was not canceling anything, adding that, he was ready to defend himself on the charges filed against him.

In accordance with the proceedings, Cuevas said, there was no need for the appearance of the respondent.

However, Cuevas challenged the validity and legality of the impeachment proceedings such that there was no showing of probable cause prior to today’s impeachment trial.

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