A majority of Philippine senators have found the chief justice of the Supreme Court guilty of failure to declare $2.4 million in bank accounts.
Chief Justice Renato Corona's impeachment trial has become the focus of President Benigno Aquino III's effort to clean up the government.
Twenty of the 23 senators voted Tuesday to convict Corona on charges of betraying public trust and violating the constitution. A minimum two-thirds of votes are needed to find him guilty and remove him from office. Three voted not guilty.
The following senators voted to convict Corona:
- Edgardo Angara
- Alan Peter Cayetano
- Pia Cayetano
- Franklin Drilon
- Francis Escudero
- Jinggoy Estrada
- Teofisto Guingona III
- Gregorio Honasan II
- Panfilo Lacson
- Lito Lapid
- Loren Legarda
- Sergio Osmeña III
- Francis Pangilinan
- Aqulino "Koko" Pimentel III
- Ralph Recto
- Ramon Bong Revilla Jr.
- Juan Ponce Enrile
Meanwhile, the following lawmakers voted to acquit the chief justice:
- Joker Arroyo
- Miriam Defensor-Santiago
- Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Corona admitted he did not declare $2.4 million because of the bank privacy law that protects foreign deposits from disclosure. But he argued that his omission is not an impeachable offence.
The verdict came at the end of a grueling five-month trial that fixated the nation, withnscenes of dramatic flare-ups and surprising revelations spicing up weekday television viewing and Internet livestreaming for media watchers.
Corona’s conviction is likely to be seen as a triumph for President Benigno Aquino III, who has never fully recognized Corona's appointment as chief justice by then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a few weeks before she stepped down in 2010.
According to a Reuters report, the ruling is likely to be welcomed by investors who felt the long trial was distracting the government from addressing policy matters just when the country is seeing a resurgence of interest in its long-underperforming economy.
"The effect is clear, it will be a boost to the anti-corruption campaign of the president, it will also be a big boost to his support base," Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms in Manila, told Reuters.
