Next course of action after impeachment

It should go without saying that the appropriate criminal charges should also be filed against Chief Justice Renato Corona if and when he is convicted by the Senate on even one of the eight impeachable offenses filed against him by Congress. Full accountability calls for no less than that course of action because removal from office is not enough penalty for the charges raised against Corona—culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption.

The charge of graft and corruption alone should bring to light some sordid details about how Corona used his closeness to the Arroyo administration for his personal and family’s benefits, as alleged.

One such case for which Corona and his wife may be held criminally accountable is the latter’s appointment during the Arroyo administration as president of the government-owned corporation managing the former US military recreation center Camp John Hay in Baguio.

And even should Corona decide to resign as Chief Justice before or during his trial by the Senate, government prosecutors under Justice Secretary Leila de Lima should still press criminal charges against him.

And please, there should be no hospital detention for Corona like that afforded his benefactor, former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Corona is too big and burly a man to feign any ailment that may be used to keep him out of jail.

—JENNIFER DENUM,

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