CJ need not be demonized, his credibility already damaged

What’s wrong with the House prosecution panel showing to media photos of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s high-end penthouse unit in Taguig City? Is this short-circuiting the rules and processes of the Senate impeachment court, as columnist Amando Doronila claims? (Inquirer, 1/6/12)

Not at all. I believe that the prosecution did this as part of its duty to educate the public on the key issues of the impeachment trial. This would allow the public to make an informed judgment on the issue at hand.

But more than this, it is a preemptive move to prevent evidence from being doctored or altered in any way to keep the truth from coming out. It would have been easy for Corona to show his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth or SALNs (which he says he has religiously submitted year after year); and the allegations of ill-gotten wealth made against him would have probably died a natural death. But with neither hide nor hair of his annual SALNs ever seeing the light of day, Corona would always be under suspicion of hiding something. Like his P14.5 million (or is it P30-40 million?) Bellagio penthouse.

The prosecution does not need to demonize Corona in media or elsewhere and subject him to “trial by publicity.” He is already neck deep in cow dung at this point ever since he began to cast his lot with disgraced former president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

—LAURICE JOY GOMEZ,

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