Benigno Aquino 3rd has got to be this nations most unscrupulous and hypocritical President ever,
In 2011, Aquino undertook an unprecedented campaign to remove the Supreme Courts Chief Justice, Renato Corona, from office on grounds that he would be an obstacle in prosecuting his predecessor, President Arroyo. But that was just a smokescreen for his real motive: to arm-twist the Court to rule that compensation for his clans Hacienda Luisita would be a humongous P5 billion, instead of the P196 million which the Court had appeared to believe was fair and just.
Aquinos other flimsy excuse was that Arroyo shouldnt have appointed Corona as Chief Justice to replace Reynato Puno, who was due to retire on May 17, 2010, or seven days after the May 10 elections. Aquino claimed that since he was sure to win the presidency, he should be appointing the new Chief Justice (and the appointment of the Chief Justice is covered by a ban on any appointments to the Court made during the last two months before the election). Cases were filed in the Supreme Court on this matter.
Talk of karma. As things would turn out, Aquino found himself in a roughly similar position as Arroyo was in.
Associate Justice Martin Villarama, Jr. was supposed to retire on April 14, 2016, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70, or just a few weeks before the May 2016 polls. Aquino should be stepping down June 1st, and the two-month ban before the elections prevents him from appointing Villaramas replacement.
But then Aquino is Mr. Double Standard. What he hated and criticized Arroyo for having done which was to appoint the Chief Justice weeks before she stepped down he would be doing in the case of Villarama, to appoint his replacement.
According to my sources and that of our ace reporter, Jomar Canlas, who reported this way back in May 2014, Aquino, instead, got Villarama to agree to retire not in April this year when he reaches the 70 retirement age but much earlier, next week, on January 16.
Next week would be more than two months before the May elections, so that Aquino would have the authority to appoint Villaramas replacement. In his letter to the Court, Villarama cited his deteriorating health condition for his early retirement.
Sources have claimed it was a carrot-and-stick approach that made Villarama retire months before reaching the retirement age, which is unprecedented in the fact that it got the other Supreme Court justices nodding their heads. That was another shameless attempt by this President to control the judiciary.
The mission of convincing Villarama to retire was allegedly given to Aquinos political adviser (of pirated-DVD and AK-47 fame) Ronaldo Llamas. His success in doing so gained brownie points for Llamas, even as he had been identified as former President Joseph Estradas mole in the Palace.
http://www.manilatimes.net/in-his-la...-court/238312/
In 2011, Aquino undertook an unprecedented campaign to remove the Supreme Courts Chief Justice, Renato Corona, from office on grounds that he would be an obstacle in prosecuting his predecessor, President Arroyo. But that was just a smokescreen for his real motive: to arm-twist the Court to rule that compensation for his clans Hacienda Luisita would be a humongous P5 billion, instead of the P196 million which the Court had appeared to believe was fair and just.
Aquinos other flimsy excuse was that Arroyo shouldnt have appointed Corona as Chief Justice to replace Reynato Puno, who was due to retire on May 17, 2010, or seven days after the May 10 elections. Aquino claimed that since he was sure to win the presidency, he should be appointing the new Chief Justice (and the appointment of the Chief Justice is covered by a ban on any appointments to the Court made during the last two months before the election). Cases were filed in the Supreme Court on this matter.
Talk of karma. As things would turn out, Aquino found himself in a roughly similar position as Arroyo was in.
Associate Justice Martin Villarama, Jr. was supposed to retire on April 14, 2016, when he reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70, or just a few weeks before the May 2016 polls. Aquino should be stepping down June 1st, and the two-month ban before the elections prevents him from appointing Villaramas replacement.
But then Aquino is Mr. Double Standard. What he hated and criticized Arroyo for having done which was to appoint the Chief Justice weeks before she stepped down he would be doing in the case of Villarama, to appoint his replacement.
According to my sources and that of our ace reporter, Jomar Canlas, who reported this way back in May 2014, Aquino, instead, got Villarama to agree to retire not in April this year when he reaches the 70 retirement age but much earlier, next week, on January 16.
Next week would be more than two months before the May elections, so that Aquino would have the authority to appoint Villaramas replacement. In his letter to the Court, Villarama cited his deteriorating health condition for his early retirement.
Sources have claimed it was a carrot-and-stick approach that made Villarama retire months before reaching the retirement age, which is unprecedented in the fact that it got the other Supreme Court justices nodding their heads. That was another shameless attempt by this President to control the judiciary.
The mission of convincing Villarama to retire was allegedly given to Aquinos political adviser (of pirated-DVD and AK-47 fame) Ronaldo Llamas. His success in doing so gained brownie points for Llamas, even as he had been identified as former President Joseph Estradas mole in the Palace.
http://www.manilatimes.net/in-his-la...-court/238312/