Statement on the conviction of Chief Justice Renato Corona

We have been expecting that the Senate impeachment court will decide to convict Chief Justice Renato Corona. Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III has used all the powers of the government to achieve this end: from railroading the impeachment complaint in Congress to waging an all-out propaganda war.

The Aquino government has no more excuse to further delay jailing former Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her closest cohorts. We condemn it for failing to file the big cases of plunder, human-rights violations, and electoral fraud against Arroyo and her closest cohorts. In relation to holding public officials accountable, all government officials should now be forced to disclose their bank accounts and financial records.

We call on the Filipino workers and people to be vigilant in relation to the Supreme Court’s decision on Hacienda Luisita. The SC decision should be implemented immediately. All haciendas in the country should be distributed to farmers.

We fear that Corona’s conviction in the impeachment trial will lead to Aquino’s full control over the Supreme Court. That would mean that the Aquino government can ram its anti-worker and anti-people policies down the workers’ and people’s throats.

We are therefore calling on the Filipino workers and people to intensify our struggles for immediate relief from the worsening hunger, unemployment, and poverty in the country. The government should now buckle down to work and address these issues that were sidelined by the Corona impeachment.

Let us heighten our fight for a P125 across-the-board wage increase for private sector workers nationwide, for a P6,000 increase in the minimum pay of government employees, and for the junking of contractual employment.

Let us intensify our struggles against demolition and the Aquino government’s Public-Private Partnership programs. Let us heighten our struggles for the junking of Oplan Bayanihan and all human-rights violations that it is causing.

Lest us intensify our struggle for the pullout of US troops and bases from the country.

The conviction of Chief Justice will definitely not bring about a significant change in the lives of working people suffering from hunger and poverty. Let us continue to struggle for a society where freedom and the people’s will reign.