Money talks — and shuts people up. The challenge issued by embattled Chief Justice Renato Corona to 188 Lower House representatives who were behind the filing of a sloppily-written and practically baseless impeachment complaint against Corona virtually at the behest of Philippine President Benigno Simeon “BS” Aquino III and Senator Franklin Drilon for them to sign a waiver to open their dollar-denominated bank accounts to public scrutiny is resonating across Philippine society.
Elements within the camp who have backed the cotinued extra-judicial assault on the privacy and reputation of Corona have latched on to his infamous court “walk-out” yesterday to bolster what had previously become a substance-starved movement to oust the country’s top magistrate. The movement, unfortunately for them, remains substance starved despite this minor setback. But to the sorts of minds that subscribe to the Black-and-White world of anti-Corona rhetoric, the word substance may as well be a Swahili word.
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Whatever way this circus goes, it seems it is Senator Franklin Drilon who stands to lose the most. Throughout the trial, Drilon hardly even bothered to pretend to be an objective “senator-judge”, often taking it upon himself to plug conceptual gaps left gaping by the mediocre lawyering of the prosecution team. As such, his being singled out among the senator-judges by Corona and lumped among the rabble of 188 Lower House “representatives” is not a surprising development.
Drilon had himself been the subject of speculation that he is not above hiding allegedly unexplained personal wealth. A March 2011 Journal.com.ph report revealed that a 1,542 square-metre property in über-expensive Forbes Park Village in Makati City is owned by Drilon’s stepdaughter Eduarda S. Genuino, but: “As far as Forbes Park neighbors know, the property belongs to the senator”. The report goes on to reveal that the “Forbes Park land is being linked to the Iloilo International Airport Project which Drilon oversaw during the time of President Joseph Estrada”. More recently, a bit more detail was provided by The Daily Tribune in a March 2012 report…
Documents earlier provided the Tribune also showed that Aquino’s chief Senate ally Sen. Franklin Drilon may have resorted to means to hide the purchase of a property at the country’s premiere rich man’s village Forbes Park.
Documents showed that in 2004, Eduarda S. Genuino, the single daughter of Mila Serrano Genuino and the late Vic Genuino, employed as an executive at Starbucks of the Tantoco Lopez family, purchased a foreclosed property worth P50 million at 17 Kawayan Road, North Forbes Park, Makati from the Bank of the Philippine Islands represented by senior vice president Senen Matoto.
The original owner of the lot was Amalio Montecillo who is married to a certain Manuel Montecillo. Genuino’s widowed mother Milagros married Sen. Franklin Drilon sometime in 2000.
The family resides at 49 Polk St. North Greenhills, San Juan M.M. which is also the residence of Sen. Drilon.
The source of the document asked how can a single lady with no other visible means of income aside from her Starbucks job purchase such an expensive property.
Of course this sort of “reporting” by the Tribune is not too different from the sort of revelations published with glee by “cooperative” reporters on esteemed broadsheets like the Inquirer.net and on “social news networks” such as Rappler.com. But then this is Philippine society where such factoids remain the de facto hard currency for passing judgment on people.
Taste of their own medicine? Not bitter enough, perhaps not quite the “cheaps tricks” that the Black and White Movement had made their new rallying cry, but good media fodder nonetheless.
[Photo courtesy EgYolk.com.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
Drilon and his ilk may feel high and mighty now, and even make a mockery of our laws, but certainly there is no escaping the law of karma! Your hubris will be shattered and your lies and deceptions will be exposed!
Once a pork barrel scheme is started, nothing in heaven or on Earth is likely to stop it. Like barnacles on a ship, too many vested interests will gloom onto it and fight to protect it. -Steve Forbes
of course benigno there are lots of crooks in the government. you must process them one at a time. it is not an argument of one who got caught that he should be declared innocent because there are others out there who are as mendacious and as corrupt as the chief justice.
cj corona was given his day in court, and you must give drilon also his day in court by charging him officialy so he can hire topnotch lawyers and defend himself like corona. congress in the case of cj corona was decent enough in bringing an impeachment in the senate against him, while he simply was content of accusing his ‘enemies’ in the media and before the IC for public consumption. he should either put up or shut up!
No argument there dude, except that Corona was given his day in TWO courts: inside and outside the Senate impeachment court — the latter of the two thanks largely to the unspoken strategy of the prosecution and their broader circle of hacks and slashers. So tit-for-tat. Drilon also deserves his day in both courts.
yes, but corona was processed in the first court then outside the court.
and you forgot one fundamental difference dude. drilon is a politician whose term expires in 6 years while congressmen in 3 years. any accusation of corruptino is addressed every election year. they get booted out from office.
corona is a chief justice for life or until retirement. if he is corrupt, the sovereign people are helpless to put him to account – the politicians, you can swat them like flies during election time. you are actually comparing apples and oranges.
“any accusation of corruptino is addressed every election year. they get booted out from office.”
Not really. Most Filipino voters are stupid that’s why we have the likes of Drilon, Sotto, Revilla, Lapid, and those 188 Congressmen in the office.
Don’t put Drilon in the likes of those you mention.very poor comparison. sobra ka naman.
Hopefully so, but I believe almost all of the Senate should be in trial soon or at least be very open for public scrutiny.
@jcc re “but corona was processed in the first court then outside the court”. Was he really? Check your facts. Start here perhaps.
purely semantics… benign0… we would not have this discussion if there is no impeachement processed by 188 congressmen.. meaning he was processed in accordance with the provision of the constitution. where are you processing drilon and the congressmen? — so far, in the media only.
and you have not addressed the difference between a politician and a justice of the SC.
the politician can be booted out without much political bloodletting. your jurist holds office for life, hence their conduct of behavior should be better than politicians for the sake of the people who are practically defenseless if your jurist is indusputably corrupt.
we would not have this discussion if there is no impeachment against corona.
he was processed by congressmen in accord with the provision of the constitution. while you were processing drilon in the media and as an answer on the way corona was processed.
and you have not answered the difference between a politician and a jurist.
The filing of the impeachment complaints was unconstitutional:
“Congressman Tobias Tiangco’s testified under oath that the impeachment complaints did not go through the correct process. As the defense lead counsel Serafin Cuevas explained, the Chief Justice was impeached without any determination of probable cause; no evidence, no allegation to prove existence of probable cause. This means that there was indeed a violation of the Constitution.
Tiangco was outright confirming the allegations that the impeachment of Corona was backed by the president’s orders and that the Congressmen were not even allowed to ask questions during the Power Point presentation outlining the hastily and badly-written articles of impeachment. In short, they had no choice but to sign or risk the ire of PNoy.”
Congressman Tiangco: Impeachment complaint against CJ Corona was railroaded
Of course it’s all semantics to you. You’re a lawyer (or so you claim to be) after all.
You need to step back from the technical difference between Drilon and Corona and regard the principles at work here, attorney. And when you do, you will realise that what I do here is by simple virtue of me being a writer of GR Post. It’s what I do. In contrast, Tupas and his prosecution mob are lawyers. They apply the law. Perhaps, arguably, the complaint had already been filed after the media blitz against Corona they engineered also started. But that highlights even more the unethical nature of their behaviour — a lodged complaint and the commencement of a trial should all the more have compelled them to desist from further contact with the media about the merits of the case in a trial in which they were court officers.
you do not make sense benign0 – but have it your way… dude..this is your blog and you consider yourself a writer and congressmen as a mob!
Then again it could be just you suffering from an overdose of sense. A lot of people who read GR Post suffer from that condition — couldn’t handle it coming from a society where sense is more the exception than the rule. 😀
why discrimminate then? go after everybody in the government and give each one his/her day in whatever court! its clear you have chosen sides so as jcc said, it’s your effin blog
You will note the title: spotlight on Drilon’s personal wealth. Just because said spotlight is on one element does not necessarily mean elements that remain within their dark shadowy corners will not get their day under said spotlight.
Stidi ka lang dyan. 😀
Nah. Seeing what happened to Ak47/dvd boy Llamas…
Baboy na, lapdog pa. HIPPOPOcrite.
I only see, both sides playing with our heads and not showing the genuine integrity that is required so for a public servant whatsoever, Man if the States has problems like this they would have defaulted a long time ago on their debt. I only hope I can see a group that will break the political entrenchment created by these IDIOTS. I DON’T TAKE CORONA’S OR AQUINO’S SIDE, DELIVER JUSTICE AND IF YOU PROVE YOUR IN FOR THE TASK YOU ARE FOR IN GOVERNMENT, THEN I WON’T COMPLAIN MUCH AT ALL.
The home address of Senator Drilon is 107 Kennedy St., North Green Hills, not 49 Polk St.
I don’t know why this blog chooses to remain the biggest Corona apologists on the web. The truth is no one in Philippine politics is innocent—not Corona, not Drilon, not PNoy, not his mother, not Aguinaldo, not Mabini. Historically, our politics has always been an amoral struggle for power.
It’s a game guys.
The reason why Corona is on the stand now and not Drilon is the same reason why Erap was impeached: he didn’t play the game right. He was stupid. He made an enemy of the a highly popular president from day one, which culminated when he humiliated the administration with the GMA TRO. Not content with that, now that he’s on trial, he chose yesterday to antagonize Enrile and evade his cross-examination.
Take a look at Enrile. He carried out Marcos’ human rights abuses and led coups against Cory. What is he now? The third most powerful man in the country, and a respected octogenarian. Or Aguinaldo: whereas Rizal, Bonifacio, Luna, etc died young and violently, Emilio lived to the ripe old age of 95, dying in 1964. These two men knew how to play their cards right.
Corona is losing, but not because he’s guilty. It’s because he’s one lousy politician.
Can’t really say I disagree with what you’re saying. Indeed, ultimately Corona wasn’t as shrewd a politician as Gloria Arroyo was (although ultimately she too failed to secure herself against persecution — which she should’ve seen coming). It comes down to who puts up a performance most convincing to a largely jaded public.
If you’ve decided we are “Corona apologists” well, there’s really not much I can do to persuade you otherwise. But if you read our articles more closely, you will find that our loyalties (for lack of a better term) lie not on people, parties, or “movements” but on a shared appreciation for careful thinking applied to sorting out the issues.
Have to agree with “Corona is losing… because he’s one lousy politician.” (Not too keen on judging his guilt or innocence but I have to say the prosecution sucked. Just a lot of mudslinging but none of their fantabulous accusations could actually stick. And damn this country for falling for those small ladies/garden fairies bearing spurious documents!)
On the other hand, I think maybe the judiciary shouldn’t be composed of politicians. That’s already the executive and the legislature.
Now where the hell can you prove that Corona is a politician, huh? Even the prosecution is more like politicians than lawyers. Get the drift?
Sen. Drilon if u have nothing to hide take the challenge of CJ Corona
Porky Drilon is a ravenous and greedy Hacienda Luisita Swine…He refuses to sign the waiver. It just means one thing: he is hiding something…maybe 82 or more Bank Accounts. Maybe 45 properties or more…
Drilon is kamalmuks. I am sure he is hiding something. Sooner or later, he will also dump Pnoy for whoever he thinks will have the money bag next.
I think I believe you. He was once Marcos’ ass-licker.
@ Entong and Impaler
He was the one who famously invited GMA to move Malacañang to Iloilo because “everyone loves you there.”
Maybe he has a point after all. Who is from someone from Visayas wants to be part of the stupidity of the imperial city of Manila?
remember the Iloilo airport of “international standards”…