Binay: Fair Corona trial for the benefit of PH

MANILA, Philippines – A fair and impartial trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona will be a “great boon” to the country, according to Vice President Jejomar Binay.

"A fair and impartial trial -- and only a fair and impartial trial -- of Chief Justice Corona, unclouded by suspicions or actual accusations of misconduct and improper dealing on the part of any participant in the proceedings, or on the part of those whose legitimate right and duty are simply to observe the proceedings without seeking to intervene in the outcome, would be a great boon to the nation," Binay said on Friday during the 34th Anniversary Celebration of the Philippine Trial Lawyers Association,
Inc. (PTLA) at the Manila Hotel.

Binay, speaking in front of trial lawyers, said that more are expected from them than being mere spectators of the impeachment proceedings.

"We are to stand as neutral observers in every proceeding in which we are not participants, but we should be prepared to intervene whenever the balance of justice and fairness shifts in favor of power, and the rule of law and due process are threatened," he said.

The vice president also lauded PTLA’s stand on the inviolability of the Constitution in the ongoing trial, especially in relation to the protected rights under the Bill of Rights, as well as the separation of powers between the different co-equal branches of government.

Binay warned that "we cannot depart from due process and the rule of law without renouncing our Constitution."

He added that the impeachment process should not be used to bend the law "or asserting the false supremacy of one branch of government over another, or putting one branch in conflict with another."

Source: http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/03/03/12/binay-fair-corona-trial-will-benefit-p

Posted in: Impeachment CJ Corona,News,VP Binay