CJ should observe letter and spirit of the charter

I must commend the Inquirer for its spot-on editorial on impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona. (“One lucky guy,” Inquirer, 1/5/12)

Corona does not seem to have read at all—and absorbed—the letter and spirit of the Constitution. If he did, he would not have accepted from Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo his appointment as chief justice in the dying days of her nine-year rule. His “midnight appointment” is unconstitutional, if he doesn’t know it yet.

Then there’s the constitutional injunction for public officials to lead “simple lives.” Does a P14.5-million (assuming this is the true purchase price), 303-square meter penthouse in The Bellagio in ritzy Bonifacio Global City fall under the purview of “simple living”? It’s said he has three other high-end properties in his name. That may be fine if he’s a corporate CEO, but he’s a chief justice whose job is to defend the Constitution. Instead, it seems he’s the first to violate it.

Using the Constitution to subvert and spit on it is what Corona is doing. But it’s not just the Constitution that Corona tramples at every available opportunity. He has even cajoled the hallowed academe to give him honors he doesn’t deserve at all. A doctor of philosophy without a doctoral dissertation is a contradiction in terms. Corona’s PhD is invalid, it’s ersatz, it’s fake, just like his midnight appointment as chief justice by Arroyo.

The editorial described Corona just right: he may be one lucky guy, but he’s also one big rotten fish who shouldn’t be allowed to get away with murder.

—ORLANDO MATIAS,

landomatias@hotmail.ph