Corona is top nominee to SC

Former presidential chief of staff Renato Corona will most likely be named by President Arroyo the next Supreme Court justice, having obtained a unanimous endorsement from the nine-member Judicial and Bar Council (JBC), it was learned yesterday.

A reliable source said the former Malacañang official did not technically get nine votes, since the JBC considered the votes of two members of Congress — Sen. Francisco Pangilinan and Taguig Rep. Allan Peter Cayetano — as a half vote each.

"It’s eight of eight," the source said, adding the JBC has finished its short list of 11 nominees for the two SC posts vacated by Justice Bernardo Pardo last Feb. 11 and Justice Arturo Buena last March 25.

Opposition to Corona’s nomination has been filed by Corona’s uncle and a party identified with ousted President Joseph Estrada. Corona and the 10 others were nominees for the place of SC Justice Minerva Gonzaga-Reyes who retired last September.

"Their nominations are valid for six months," the source pointed out. Corona was personally nominated by Pardo last September, five months before he retired at the age of 70.

In filing his opposition, Jose Ma. Basa, Corona’s uncle-in-law, said his nephew "will not be capable of rendering fair and just decisions as he has not exhibited such character." Corona’s wife Cristina Roco is the daughter of Basa’s sister Asuncion.

"Being his uncle, I should be happy about his nomination. But having known him personally, I took this opportunity to submit my opposition to his nomination and to save the SC from discredit and disrepute," he said.

The pro-Estrada Partido ng Masang Pilipino, on the other hand, charged that JBC has been limiting nominees to people from Malacañang or people close to Malacañang, Corona among them.

The SC nominees who obtained the second highest number of votes from the JBC were Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Ma. Alicia Martinez, CA Justices Ruben Reyes and Cancio Garcia and private practitioners Loreto Ata and Ruben Balane.

Getting the third highest number of votes were CA Justice Romeo Callejo Sr.; former Pasig judge, Sandiganbayan justice, presidential legal counsel and Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairwoman Harriet Demetriou; and ACCRA senior partner Rogelio Vinluan.

Demetriou, 55, when she was Pasig City judge convicted to seven life terms Calauan, Laguna Mayor Antonio Sanchez and six of his henchmen for the rape-slay of UP-Los Baños coed Eileen Sarmenta and the murder of her fellow student Allan Gomez in January 1993.

She was promoted by Ramos as Sandiganbayan justice in 1995 until Estrada appointed her as his chief presidential legal adviser in 1998. She was later transferred to Comelec and took over Pardo’s unexpired term until February 2001.

Vinluan, a private practitioner, was the private prosecutor who was instrumental in the conviction of Claudio Teehankee Jr., son of the late Chief Justice Claudio Teehankee Sr., for the murder of teenager Maureen Hultman in Makati City in July 1991.

Nominees who got the fourth highest number of votes were Sandiganbayan Justice Edilberto Sandoval, a member of the three-member special division trying the plunder case of Estrada, and UP Law dean Raul Pangalangan.

Under the law, the President has to appoint a justice’s replacement within 90 days from the day he retires, which means Mrs. Arroyo has to appoint Pardo’s replacement not later than May 11 and Buena’s not later than June 25.

Those who voted for Corona, aside from Pangilinan and Cayetano, were JBC chairman and Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr., Justice Secretary Hernando Perez, court administrator Presbitero Velasco, and ex-SC Justice Regino Hermosisima, former UST Law dean Amado Dimayuga, lawyer Teresita Cruz-Sison and Judge Alfredo Marigonen.

Two "non-voting" JBC members are Senior Justices Josue Bellosillo and Jose Melo.

The family feud

Corona’s uncle Basa personally believes his nephew "is not morally qualified to occupy a very noble position in the judiciary especially in the Supreme Court where the justices are selected for their intellectual prowess, uprightness, fairness and respect of the law."

In a one-page letter to the JBC, Basa revealed that Corona and his wife took over the family business — the Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) — through unlawful means.

"With the intention of gaining control over BGEI, Cristina, with the tacit consent of Corona, filed two cases with the Securities and Exchange Commission purposely to prevent us from holding a stockholders’ meeting," he said.

Corona managed to get a "questionable" ruling from the corporate watchdog, Basa said, which is why after 10 long years the firm has not held any stockholders’ meeting.

"Cristina is administering the corporation all by herself without rendering any accounting to the stockholders, despite demands," he said, adding that the couple’s lawyers are Corona’s fraternity brothers at the Villanueva Bernardo Gabionza law office.

"Corona has been actively involved in preventing us from holding a meeting and has in fact attended the hearings on the libel cases that his wife filed against all of us, her uncle, aunts and cousins, including Sister Flor Basa who is turning 80," said Basa.

"By doing so, he is tolerating and condoning the unfair and unlawful actions of his wife knowing fully well that she has no authority to run the corporation. And so, I strongly oppose his nomination," Basa told the JBC.

Earlier, Corona had denied the allegations of his wife’s relatives saying he had nothing to do with his wife’s actions.

Among the nominees to the SC, only Corona got a "negative feedback" and from his own uncle yet, while the rest got letters of congratulations from their friends and colleagues in the profession, highly reliable sources said.