CJ should prove his innocence

Aha! After boasting that he has nothing to hide and that he’ll personally prove his detractors wrong “in due time”, now comes impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona saying, through his lawyers, that he would not testify in his own trial before the Senate.

Corona was forced to make the 180-degree turnabout from his earlier pronouncement that he’ll prove himself innocent, with his lead counsel Serafin Cuevas saying they don’t want to expose their client to questioning by senator-judges which they claim are biased against him.

That excuse by Cuevas is hogwash because as Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has said, Corona must testify because no one else can explain the big discrepancy in his actual assets from what’s stated in his SALNs. That is, if they can be explained at all, along with the many properties and cash deposits he did not declare in his SALN.

If Corona can explain the figures and if he has nothing to hide, why then is he afraid of being questioned by anyone? If he is the paragon of cleanness that he claims to be, why is he afraid to take the witness stand?

Corona cannot forever hide behind his expensive lawyers and the religious groups whose support he had begged for. He cannot hide behind technicalities to stop the truth from coming out that he had amassed ill-gotten wealth.

In fact, the truth has already come out. It’s all over except for the shouting.