March 19, 2012 · Posted in: General
Miriam: CJ filed and disclosed,
so it’s practically ‘case closed’
SENATOR-JUDGE Miriam Defensor Santiago practically absolved impeached Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona of the charge of culpable violation of the Constitution for alleged failure to disclose his statement of assets liabilities and net worth (SALN), saying that it was clear that Corona had both filed and disclosed his SALN.
Taking the floor at the opening of the 31st day of the impeachment trial, Santiago said the Articles of Impeachment signed by 188 congressmen last December 12 was “suffering from an incompetence of phraseology.”
Santiago said a reading of Article 2 of the impeachment complaint showed that the prosecutors were merely trying to prove that Corona “failed to disclose” his SALN.
“So if the SALN was disclosed and we literally apply this article, then there is no more case,” Santiago said.
“It turns out now that he faithfully disclosed his assets and liabilities as provided by law. In my view, Article 2 is suffering from incompetence of phraseology,” Santiago said.
Santiago said a better phrasing of Article 2 should read “failed to disclose and failed to declare his SALN.”
“It appears that (the SALN) was filed and disclosed, then the case is closed,” she added.
Furthermore, Santiago said that it needs to be decided by the Senate whether a failure in the declaration or disclosure of a SALN is even an impeachable offense to begin with. She said the implementing rules and regulations for the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees effectively decriminalized errors or failures in the proper filing of a SALN.
1 Response to Miriam: CJ filed and disclosed,
so it’s practically ‘case closed’
Roberto B. Reblora
March 20th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
Did CJ Corona’s filing of SALN, as a legal mandatory obligation required of every public official and employee, in accordance with its purpose–a proof of public official/employee’s ACCOUNTABILITY? How can dishonesty and grave misconduct on the part of the Prosecution and/or honesty and good faith on the part of the Defense be proven to constitute as an IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE?
Will the Senator-Judges prevail in keeping the Impeachment Trial focused on these end-goals instead of liberally being open to irrelevant or immaterial issues?
The Defense presentations of witnesses/evidences to probe their allegation that CJ Corona has the means (PHP20M+received as pay and allowances) to acquire huge amount of local and foreign currency bank deposits; also, to probe that Defendant CJ Corona, has truthfully declared his SALN,as proven through the testimonies of witnesses that confirmed the assessed/market values for tax purposes as the basis of CJ Coronas real estate property valuations in his SALNs are essentially irrelevant/immaterial to the end-goal–public trust in CJ Corona.
The SALN is essentially about public officials and/or employees’accountability in public office. It is proven through the basic accounting equation: ASSETS less LIABILITIES is equal to NETWORTH. It should be accurate to the nearest centavo or to the nearest peso. In this regartd, ASSETS AND LIABILITIES values are naturally must be expressed at the time of the event: payment/receipt of Salaries/Allowances, bank transaction or purchase/acquisition of ASSETS.
It is really only CJ CORONA who can justify/prove that he can be trusted as public official as he had been honest and in good faith in filing/declaring his SALN. His SALN must be accurate as to reflect how he behaved in the performance of his public office as a public trust! Let’s ascertain the TRUE/KEY FACTS and avoid presentation/argumentation of irrelevant/immaterial issues!