AS the prosecution panel wraps up Article 2 of the impeachment complaint, it asserts that Chief Justice Renato Corona is guilty of betrayal of public trust when he lied under oath in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth (SALN).

One of the spokespersons, Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, said dishonesty demonstrated by Corona in his SALN constitutes betrayal of public trust which is an impeachable offense under the 1987 Constitution.

“The idea of a public trust is connected with the oath of office of the public official, and if he violates the oath of office, then he has betrayed that trust,” Angara said.

“Ang pinakamahalaga po dyan ‘yung pagtataksil o pagkanulo sa tiwala ng publiko…’yan po ang intensyon ng mga may-akda ng ating Saligang Batas na talagang panagutin po ang mga makasalanang mga opisyal,” he added.

Angara pursued the argument of lead public prosecutor Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. before the Senate impeachment trial that Corona’s lying under oath may not be considered a high crime, but it falls under two other impeachable offenses.

Another spokesman, Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada, said that if others believe that dishonesty is just a petty crime, the SC thought otherwise when it upheld the dismissal from office of a female Bureau of Internal Revenue executive for accumulating properties and investments grossly disproportionate to her income and earning capacity as a government employee and for not disclosing the same in her SALN.

In a related story, the prosecution team is appalled by the defense panel’s double standard interpretation of the constitutional provision on betrayal of public trust in an attempt to justify the omission and untruthful declaration of Corona in his SALN.

“We are horrified at the effort of the defense to brush aside the chief justice’s failure to make an honest and truthful declaration on his net worth as nothing but an ‘unintentional omission’. Mr. Corona is not an ordinary public servant; he is the chief magistrate,” Tañada pointed out.

Under the law, all officials, including justices, are required to submit annually their duly sworn declaration on net worth that is truthful. Every year, about 1.3 million government employees file their SALN.

“The SALN requirement is not a ministerial activity; it is not an empty requirement in the law. No less than the Supreme Court has underscored in its several decisions in the past the significance and importance of the SALN,” Tañada stressed.

“Ang batas ay walang kinikilala o pinapanigan. Ibig sabihin hindi dahil si Mr. Corona ay chief justice ay exempted siya sa batas o kaya ay babaguhin nila ang interpretasyon ng batas upang isalba siya sa kalasanang pagtataksil sa tiwala ng publiko. This is a mockery of the law,“ Angara said.

He said betrayal of public trust was very explicit in the 1987 Constitution as one of six grounds for impeachment unlike in the previous Charters.