The New Dictators
After Renato Corona’s outbursts about President Noynoy Aquino’s acts of dictatorship, the President had also released a statement about how the Chief Justice had manipulated his power to bend the law to his will, making him more a dictator as any have been.Look Who’s TalkingAccording to latest Philippines Current Events, a day after Chief Justice Renato Corona had accused PNoy of attempting to establish a dictatorship President Benigno Aquino III on Thursday said Chief Justice Renato Corona was being impeached because he had been dictating how government should be run with the Supreme Court’s changing interpretations of the law.”Well, perhaps, that is their position. Let’s look at whose actions show whatever,” the President told reporters in Malacanang when asked about Corona’s allegations that he was dismantling the constitutional system of check and balance among the three branches of government.”Isn’t it when we go to the court, we expect… fairness and certainty in the law. So, if that certainty and predictability of the law are lost, when the interpretation of the law is changed, who’s the one followed? Who’s the one dictating?” he said.According to Current Events in Philippines, Mr. Aquino said it was difficult to understand the accusation that he was building a dictatorship when “we are the ones being confused by the changing decisions that affect the people.” The President had also dared Corona to reveal his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) required of government officials.Where it All StartedAccording to Philippines Current Events, this all started when the Supreme Court had given a TRO or Temporary Restraining Order on the former president’s hold-departure order, allowing her to leave the country to seek medical attention to her ailment.
After that, PNoy had mounted an attack on Corona’s credibility. One such incident was within a meeting with the justices in which the President had attacked Corona about his involvement about the midnight meetings with former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo before she stood down from presidency.On Monday, Mr. Aquino’s allies in the House of Representatives impeached Corona with a stunning vote of 188 members carried out in unusual swiftness and secrecy.On Wednesday, the Senate formally convened as an impeachment court. It will begin proceedings next month after the Christmas break.Corona, however, denied the allegations against him, reminded the President and Congress that Supreme Court rulings were “collegial” decisions and announced that he would face the charges squarely and would not quit.Mr. Aquino as a DictatorBatangas Archbishop Ramon Arguelles on Thursday said on the Catholic Church-run Radio Veritas that bishops had themselves experienced Mr. Aquino’s “dictatorial” wrath in the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office fund misuse scandal involving the distribution of vehicles to impoverished dioceses.”We have long felt this dictatorship, but they cannot impose it because they’re not sure of the military. What the dictatorship did during the time of (Ferdinand) Marcos was to destroy an institution that could pose threats to their plans,” Arguelles said. For more information visit to our site at