Offensive

Impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona does not agree with coaches who swear that the best offense is a good defense. In his first public attempt to defend himself against allegations that he and his family had amassed ill-gotten wealth, Corona turned that sports maxim on its head and went on the offensive against people he suspects of masterminding his ouster. Addressing a crowd of supporters at the Supreme Court last Monday just hours before his impeachment trial was to start, Corona belied media reports that he had acquired 45 pieces of prime real estate in three different cities of Metro Manila and accused three top officials, including President Aquino, of conspiring to strip him of his office.

Corona said that contrary to press reports, he only had five properties, including a 48-sq m condominium unit that was so small he was “ashamed” to admit ownership of it. He said his detractors padded the list to make it appear he had so many real estate properties, specifically citing the inclusion of three parking slots at The Bellagio where he owns a 308-sq m penthouse suite which he acquired in 2010 for P13.1 million.

Without naming names, Corona also accused three officials of conspiring to oust him because he was a hindrance to their plans and ambitions. “True. I am a big hindrance for those who want to stop the distribution of lands to the farmers of Hacienda Luisita,” he said. “I am also a big hindrance to one who is in a hurry to become vice president although he was defeated in 2010. And let us not go farther, I am also a big hindrance to someone who has long ambitioned to become chief justice.”

Then he vowed, “There is no turning back. This fight has become bigger than myself.”

It was a defense that seemed to be long on bravado and short on candor and truthfulness. First off, the people who leaked the information of Corona’s real estate holdings obviously erred in assigning to him ownership of the 45 properties. Less than half of the property titles can, in fact, be traced to the Corona family. But the 19 properties that the House prosecutors now claim to belong to Corona and his family are valued at P200 million in today’s prices. One of them is the penthouse at the posh Bellagio in the Bonifacio Global City that he acquired at a bargain, and it did not come with a three-car garage, as Corona seemed to suggest. Every car slot was bought and titled independently and they didn’t come cheap, at no less than a million. Even that small condo unit Corona is ashamed to own is worth P6 million now, an amount that should not be peanuts even to an official whose net worth was P14.9 million in 2002 and who has since served in the Supreme Court, which is not known to pay fabulous salaries.

The dissembling didn’t end there. Referring to irregularities noted by the World Bank in the use of funds it provided for judicial reform projects, Corona said these happened before he became chief justice. His spokesman would later say he merely inherited them. What Corona inherited was the project, but the misuse of funds, including travel and restaurant expenses, happened during his watch—from June 2010 to 2011, to be precise.

Perhaps worse than his attempt to mislead the public was Corona’s imputation of an unholy alliance among the President, Transportation Secretary Mar Roxas and Justice Antonio Carpio to unseat him. Mr. Aquino has never hidden his dislike of Corona and his belief that he doesn’t deserve to sit as the country’s highest magistrate. But if this was all because of Hacienda Luisita, why did the President give the green light to the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Office of the Solicitor General to argue for the distribution of the sugar lands? Wouldn’t it have been simpler to order his appointees to drop the case?

Then there is Roxas. Of course, his electoral protest against Vice President Jejomar Binay has been gathering dust in the Supreme Court. But how many congressmen does he have in his pocket?

As for Carpio, nobody doubts he craves the position, but who says he has a lock on it if Corona goes? And again, how much influence does he have over the House of Representatives?

Corona seems to have become paranoid, seeing conspiracies and conspirators everywhere. In trying to take the offensive he has become offensive. Maybe he should take a vacation. Then his underlings may not feel any compulsion to leave their work and join rallies in support of the Chief Justice in the guise of defending the Judiciary’s

independence and even democracy itself.