Renato Corona

Renato Tereso Antonio Coronado Corona (October 15, 1948 – April 29, 2016) was a Filipino judge who was the 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines from 2010 to 2012. He served as an associate justice after being appointed by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on April 9, 2002, and later as Chief Justice on May 12, 2010, upon the retirement of Chief Justice Reynato Puno.

Corona was previously a law professor, private law practitioner and member of the Cabinet under former presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo before being appointed to the high tribunal.

In November 2011, the Supreme Court, headed by Corona, issued a landmark decision on the Hacienda Luisita case, wherein, under agrarian reform laws, the Court upheld both the distribution of land to the hacienda's farm workers and the revocation of the stock distribution option (SDO) agreement forged in 1989. The Cojuangco group was given a ten-year window to distribute the lands to the farmers as stipulated.

In May 2012, Corona was impeached and convicted for failing to disclose his financial assets as required by the constitution, becoming the first Philippine government official to be removed by impeachment.

Background

Renato Tereso Antonio Coronado Corona was born on October 15, 1948, at the Lopez Clinic in Santa Ana, Manila, Philippines. He was the son of Juan M. Corona, a lawyer from Tanauan, Batangas, and Eugenia Ongcapin Coronado, a ''summa cum laude'' accounting graduate of the University of Santo Tomas, of Santa Cruz, Manila. He was married to Cristina Basa Roco. They have three children and six grandchildren.

Education

Corona graduated with gold medal honors from the Ateneo de Manila grade school in 1962 and high school in 1966.

He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree, with honors, also from Ateneo de Manila, in 1970, where he was the editor-in-chief of '' The GUIDON'', the university student newspaper. He finished his Bachelor of Laws at the Ateneo Law School in 1974. He placed 25th out of 1,965 candidates in the bar examination with a grade of 84.6%. After pursuing law studies, he obtained his Master of Business Administration degree at the Ateneo Professional Schools.

In 1981, he was accepted to the Master of Laws program of the Harvard Law School, where he focused on foreign investment policies and the regulation of corporate and financial institutions. He was conferred the degree LL.M. in 1982. He earned his Doctor of Civil Law degree from the University of Santo Tomas, summa cum laude and was the class valedictorian.

Chief Justice

On May 12, 2010, two days after the 2010 general election and a month before President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's term expired, Corona was appointed the 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, succeeding Reynato Puno who had reached the mandatory age of retirement.

His appointment was criticized by then-president-elect Benigno Aquino III, who cited the election-period prohibition against presidential appointments. The Supreme Court, however, had ruled in March 2010 that the prohibition could only be applied to appointments in the executive branch.

Supreme Court ruling

The Supreme Court held in ''de Castro v. JBC'' that the election-period prohibition against presidential appointments does not apply to appointments to the Supreme Court. "Had the framers intended to extend the prohibition contained in Section 15, Article VII to the appointment of members of the Supreme Court, they could have explicitly done so."

''Hacienda Luisita, Inc. v. PARC''

The Hacienda Luisita is a 6,453-hectare sugar estate covering 11 villages in Tarlac City, La Paz and Concepcion towns, that was part of farmlands belonging to the Central Azucarera de Tarlac owned by the Cojuangco family.

In 1988, then-President Corazon Aquino, part of the Cojuangco family, signed Republic Act No. 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, allowing the distribution of shares of stocks instead of land. This signaled the beginning of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). One of the clauses of the CARP provided for a Stock Distribution Option (SDO), which would allow for compliance by distributing stocks of the hacienda to the farm workers rather than actual land. The Cojuangco family availed of this option, with the family’s Tarlac Development Corp. (TADECO) forming Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI).

The following year, two referendums on the stock distribution option (SDO) were held, with several farm workers alleging that they were forced to agree to it. Some 4,915 hectares were converted into shares, with TADECO owning 67 percent and farm workers in the 1989 master list controlling 33 percent. In 2003, some 5000 farm workers filed a supplemental petition seeking the revocation of the SDO and the distribution of lands to them.

In November 2004, the farmers held a strike against the mass retrenchment of farm workers and to request for higher pay. However, they were dispersed by the police by the then-Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomás, which resulted in the deaths of 7 people and the imprisonment of 133 others. This became known as the Hacienda Luisita Massacre.

In 2005, the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) recommended the revocation of the SDO. By December, the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) issued Resolution No. 2005-32-01 that recalled/revoked the SDO plan of TADECO/HLI and placed the lands covered by the SDO under the compulsory coverage of CARP.

On July 5, 2011, the High Court, led by then-Chief Justice Corona, upheld the decision by the Department of Agrarian Reform and the PARC, revoking a 1989 stock distribution option in lieu of land distribution under the 1988 Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP). However, the Court also allowed each of the farm workers to make a choice, either a piece of farmlot or shares of stocks.

In November, 2011, in a 56-page ruling, all 14 Supreme Court justices, including Corona, voting ''en banc'', unanimously agreed that the contested land should be distributed by the Hacienda Luisita Inc. (HLI) to the original 6,296 farmer-beneficiaries pursuant to an order of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council in December 2005. The Court also lifted a temporary restraining order (TRO) the HLI had earlier secured.

Doctoral degree

On December 22, 2011, investigative journalist Marites Dañguilan Vitug of the online site Rappler published an article alleging that the University of Santo Tomas (UST) "may have broken its rules" in granting Corona a doctorate in civil law and qualifying him for honors. In a statement, the UST Graduate School denied that it broke its rules to favor Corona. The university likewise questioned the objectivity of the article, citing that Vitug has had a run-in with Corona and the Supreme Court. The university added that Corona had enrolled and passed in all of the requisite subjects leading to the doctorate, and said that since it is as an "autonomous higher educational institution (HEI)" as declared by the Commission on Higher Education, it has the freedom set its own standards of excellence and determine to whom it can grant degrees. It added that issues about Corona's residency and academic honor received were moot because of the university's academic freedom.

Impeachment

On December 12, 2011, 188 of the 285 members of the House of Representatives signed an impeachment complaint against Corona. As only a vote of one-third of the entire membership of the House, or 95 signatures, were necessary for the impeachment of Corona under the 1987 Constitution, the complaint was sent to the Senate for trial.

Corona said that the case against him was politically motivated as part of then-President Benigno Simeon Aquino III's persecution of his perceived political enemies. “This whole sordid affair has all been about politics from beginning to end . . . . It is about Hacienda Luisita: the P10 billion compensation which the President’s family reportedly wants for the land that was simply lent to them by the government; the need to terrorize and instill a chilling effect on the justices of the Supreme Court to be able to bend their decisions in favor of the Malacanang tenant,” Corona said in a speech delivered during the blessing of the Justicia Room of the Ateneo Law School.

Corona pointed out that the Supreme Court heard oral arguments on the Cojuangco Aquinos' ''Hacienda Luisita'' case in August 2010, which was after Corona became Chief Justice, and issued their landmark decision, which was adverse to the Cojuangco Aquino family, in November 2011, a month before the impeachment was filed.

He argued that he was not required to disclose US$2.4 million because foreign deposits are guaranteed secrecy under the Philippine's Foreign Currency Deposits Act (Republic Act No. 6426) and that the peso accounts are co-mingled funds.

Corona pointed out events that showed the animosity of Aquino against him. In December, 2011, then-President Aquino lectured Corona and lambasted the Supreme Court at the First National Criminal Justice Summit hosted by the Department of Justice. After the event, the Supreme Court issued a statement saying that “while it is the prerogative of the President to speak his mind, we find it quite disturbing” especially done at an event that was supposed to foster “cooperation and coordination. . . . It is not at all unusual for the executive branch to disagree with the judicial branch. But what is considerably unusual is for the Chief Executive to look down on members of the judiciary in public . . . and to their faces denounce the court’s independent actions.” Aquino also attacked Corona at the 30th anniversary celebration of the Makati Business Club. In February, 2012, at the 33rd founding anniversary of the province and the commemoration of the 124th birth anniversary of Doña Aurora Aragon-Quezon, Aquino "stepped up his attacks on Corona as Senator Edgardo Angara, one of the judges in Corona’s impeachment trial, sat a few meters away."

On May 29, 2012, he was found guilty by the Senate of Article II of the articles of impeachment filed against him for his failure to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth. Twenty out of twenty-three senators voted to convict him. A two-thirds majority, or 16 votes, was necessary to convict and remove Corona from office. Corona responded by declaring that "ugly politics prevailed" and his "conscience is clear." This marked the first time that a high-level Philippine official has been impeached and convicted.

Allegations of incentives and appeals to convict Corona

In his September 25, 2013 privilege speech, Jinggoy Estrada, one of the senators who voted to convict Corona of article two of the articles of impeachment, claimed that all senators that voted to convict Corona had ₱50 million released to each of them. He later clarified that this was an "appeal", and not a bribe. Multiple Aquino allies in the Senate later claimed that ₱50 million had been released, but was not related to the conviction of Corona.

On January 20, 2014, then-Senator Bong Revilla claimed that then-President Aquino and multiple allies personally asked him to convict the Chief Justice. Revilla narrated that he was picked up by Mar Roxas, then-Secretary of the Department of Transportation and Communications and known ally of Aquino, and brought to the residence of Aquino. Revilla recalled how Roxas explained why Corona should be impeached. Revilla quoted Aquino as begging him, “My friend, do it for me as a favor. (Corona) must be impeached." The President's spokesperson confirmed that the President indeed met with Revilla and other senators but denied the allegation that Aquino told them to vote for Corona’s conviction. Malacañang Palace, however, refused to comment on the propriety of President Aquino’s personally meeting with the senator-judges.

After the Supreme Court

In June 2016, the Sandiganbayan Third Division dismissed the pending criminal cases of Corona after his death.

On November 3, 2022, the Sandiganbayan dismissed the last case against Corona and his heirs, as well as his trustees, assignees, transferees, and successors-in-interest, because they were able to “adequately prove that their income could enable them to acquire the questioned assets.”

The Sandiganbayan pointed out that "it remained undisputed that respondents both came from families of very comfortable means and that even before his appointment to the Supreme Court, CJ Corona had financial capabilities to shoulder huge expenses and had lived a very contented life with his family." CJ Corona was a successful lawyer and his "engagement with the private sectors appeared to have been lucrative as shown by the positions he held in the private" banking and tax consulting institutions, as well as his position as Professor of Law at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law. The court also stated that the computations offered by the prosecution merely added the earned income of Corona without considering the money market placements and the substantial interest income earned over 10-year periods. The court ended its decision with, "For the future's worth, as stressed by the Supreme Court in ''In Re: Ma. Cristina Roco Corona'', the SALN is a tool for public transparency and never a weapon for political vendetta."

On January 30, 2023, the Sandiganbayan decision was declared final and executory.

Death

Corona died at 67 years old on April 29, 2016, at 1:48 a.m. at The Medical City Ortigas in Pasig due to complications of a heart attack. He also suffered from kidney disease and diabetes.

Notable opinions

*
Islamic Da'Wah Council v. Office of the Executive Secretary (2003)
' — on right of national government to act as the exclusive authority to issue halal certifications
*
Republic v. Sandiganbayan (2003)
' — on the forfeiture of Swiss assets of the Marcos family
*
Francisco v. House of Rep. (2003) - Separate Opinion
' — on the impeachment resolution against Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr.
*
Uy v. PHELA Trading (2005)
' — on constitutional right to counsel
*
Taruc v. De la Cruz (2005)
' — on court jurisdiction over challenges to religious excommunication
*
Neypes v. Court of Appeals (2005)
' — on period for appeal from decisions of trial courts
*
Lambino v. COMELEC (2006) - Dissenting Opinion
' — on People's Initiative as a mode to amend the Constitution

References

External links

Justice Renato C. Corona (Official Supreme Court Webpage)

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Corona, Renato
1948 births
2016 deaths
20th-century Filipino lawyers
21st-century Filipino judges
Arroyo administration cabinet members
Associate justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
Ateneo de Manila University alumni
Burials at The Heritage Park
Chief justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
Filipino educators
Harvard Law School alumni
Impeached Filipino officials
Impeached judges removed from office
Impeached officials removed from office
People from Marikina
People from Santa Ana, Manila
Presidential chiefs of staff (Philippines)
University of Santo Tomas alumni