Chief Justice Corona Impeached - betrayal of public trust and violation of constitution

The Philippine Congress impeached the country's chief justice on Monday (December 12, 2011) as allies of President Benigno Aquino lined up behind his drive to root out corruption.

Chief justice Renato Corona has been tagged as the "Chief of injustice" of the Philippines after bending his integrity just to save his treated lord who is jail now for electoral sabotage former president Gloria arroyo.

The Executive body and the Judicial body has been in battle after Justice Renato Corona show his face to face and bias full support to the former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Chief Justice Renato Corona is illegally installed in his position as midnight appointee  by the former President Gloria arroyo a week before Aquino win the election which is unconstitutional base in the Philippines law.

80 to 90% of the people of the Philippines are at full support to the Aquino administration's "right path" and to drive out corruption of the country.

A total of 188 members of the 285-seat House of Representatives lower house signed an impeachment complaint against Chief Justice Renato Corona on the grounds that he betrayed public trust and violated the constitution.

Aquino accuses Corona and the court of bias in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the focal point of the president's campaign to eliminate graft.

Corona will go to trial in the Senate upper house next year. Before the outcome of the parliamentary vote was disclosed, he vowed to fight on and uphold the court's independence.

Legal officials suggest an impeachment could pitch the country into a battle between the executive and the judiciary.

But the president's allies saw the vote as an important moment in exposing what they see as his predecessor's endemic corruption.

"This is an important step in holding former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo accountable for her crimes against the people," Teodoro Casino, a leftist member of Congress, said in a statement.

"We need to hold (the chief justice) accountable for the long list of anti-people rulings he supported to favour his patron, Arroyo."

Arroyo, president in 2001-2010 and now a member of Congress, appointed Corona as chief justice a week after last year's election that voted Aquino in but before he actually took power.

Arroyo is under guard at a hospital after her arrest on charges of electoral sabotage. She denies the charges and her lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to overturn an arrest warrant against her.

Corona is the first member of the judiciary to be impeached, but lawmakers believe he may resign to avoid embarrassment. In April, the head of the anti-graft agency, an Arroyo ally, resigned after she was also impeached in Congress.

Aquino, son of venerated former president Corazon Aquino, remains popular 18 months after being elected and hopes public opinion will place an additional burden on Corona to quit.

The president says the Supreme Court has blocked efforts to pursue Arroyo after it ruled against the creation of a truth commission on her activities in office.

The court also overturned a travel ban imposed by the government on the former president as she was about to fly out of Manila airport for medical treatment.

The leader of a small opposition bloc, Edcel Lagman, said the government had offered various funds as inducements to persuade lawmakers to support the impeachment motion.

Aquino's allies disputed the allegations.

Hours before the impeachment vote, the chief justice talked about a "secret plan to oust me from office by any means fair or foul", threatening to destroy democratic institutions.

"I want you to know that your chief justice continues to be in command and will lead the fight against any and all who dare to destroy the court and the independence. We shall not meekly walk away," Corona told a gathering of court employees.

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New Philippine military Chief will prioritize on Spratlys protection

 

Philippines' President Benigno Aquino III (L) and newly installed Chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Lieutenant General Jessie Dellosa salute during the Armed Forces of the Philippines Change of Command ceremony at Camp Aguinaldo in Quezon City, Metro Manila December 12, 2011. The Philippine Catholic Church and military, the two most powerful institutions in the country that have helped topple two previous leaders, installed new heads on Monday as acrimony over investigations into another former president intensified. REUTERS/ Cheryl Ravelo (PHILIPPINES - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY)

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - A battle-scarred general took leadership of the underfunded Philippine military Monday, vowing to bolster his country's external defense so it could adequately respond to "untoward incidents" amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea.

The 125,000-member Philippine military, one of Asia's weakest, has been struggling to modernize its dilapidated air force and navy and train its forces due to a lack of funds. President Benigno Aquino III recently said he would seek modern fighter jets from longtime ally Washington when he visits next year.

Army Lt. Gen. Jessie Dellosa, who took over the military leadership in austere ceremonies led by Aquino on Monday, said recent developments in the South China Sea - obviously referring to renewed territorial spats in the potentially oil-rich region  have made upgrading external defenses inevitable for the Philippines.

"It compels us to look into our maritime security deeply," Dellosa said in his speech. "Development of navy and air force bases and facilities to efficiently respond to untoward incidents is something we can no longer ignore."

Dellosa formerly was an army combat officer and was wounded twice while battling Muslim guerrillas and al-Qaida-linked militants in the southern Philippines. He also led an elite unit that helped Aquino's mother, the late pro-democracy Philippine leader Corazon Aquino, subdue coup attempts.

Filipino soldiers march in honor of new Philippine Forces Chief Lt. Gen. Jessie Dellosa during the turnover-of-command ceremony Monday Dec. 12, 2011 at the Armed Forces headquarters at suburban Quezon city, northeastern Manila, Philippines. Gen. Dellosa is the 43rd armed forces chief in the history of the Philippine military. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)

Dellosa replaced Gen. Eduardo Oban Jr., who focused on battling graft and corruption in the military during his stint. Dellosa said he would also wage "an all-out-war" against military corruption.

Already spread thinly while dealing with raging Muslim and communist insurgencies, the military began to focus on external defense especially after Filipino officials accused Chinese government vessels of repeatedly intruding into Philippine-claimed territories in and near the South China Sea's disputed Spratly Islands in the first half of the year.

Philippine and Vietnamese authorities also accused Chinese vessels of trying to sabotage oil explorations within their territorial waters, an allegation Beijing has denied.

China, the Philippines and Vietnam, along with Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei claim the South China Sea and its cluster of islands, islets, reefs and coral outcrops partly or in its entirety. The region is believed to be sitting atop vast deposits of oil and natural gas and also straddle busy sealanes.

The South China Sea has long been regarded as Asia's next flashpoint for conflict.

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Chinese Illegal poaching After the Philippines then Korea

A body of a South Korean coast guard officer is carried by his colleagues at a hospital

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — A Chinese fishing boat captain stabbed two South Korean coast guard officers Monday, killing one and injuring the other, after his boat was stopped for illegally fishing in South Korean waters, officials said.

The Chinese captain pulled an unidentified weapon after officers from two coast guard ships boarded the fishing boat over suspicions that it was illegally operating in Yellow Sea waters rich in blue crabs, anchovies and croaker, coast guard spokesman Kim Dong-jin said.

A South Korean officer stabbed in the side was taken by helicopter to a hospital in the port city of Incheon but later died, Kim said. Also brought to the hospital were an officer stabbed in the abdomen, who was to undergo surgery, and the Chinese captain, who had minor injuries from the fight, he said.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry summoned China's ambassador in Seoul later Monday and lodged a strong protest over the fight.

2 weeks past, Chinese illegal fishermen captured in the Philippines for illegally poaching endangered sea green turtle and now detained in Palawan. The same incident happened year past and with court charges on progress when they pouched sea green turtle with the tag of the University of the Philippines in the West Philippines Sea near the Spratly Islands.

Last week in South Korea, Foreign Ministry officials said they asked the ambassador to make efforts to prevent illegal Chinese fishing from undermining bilateral ties.

Also last week, South Korean authorities raised fines levied on foreign fishing vessels caught operating in Seoul's self-declared exclusive economic zone, an apparent reflection of Seoul's impatience with a rising number of Chinese boats found fishing in the waters.

"Eradicating Chinese boats' illegal fishing in our waters is a most urgent task to safeguard our fishermen and fisheries resources," South Korea's Yonhap news agency said in a recent editorial. "The government should mobilize every possible means and continue the crackdown on illegal fishing."

Besides the captain, eight other Chinese fishermen on the boat were arrested and taken to Incheon, the coast guard said in a statement.

The coast guard says it has seized about 470 Chinese ships for illegal fishing in the Yellow Sea so far this year, up from 370 last year. The coast guard usually releases the ships after a fine is paid, though violence occasionally occurs.

Chinese fishing fleets have been going farther afield to feed growing domestic demand for seafood.

In 2008, one South Korean coast guard officer was killed and six others injured in a fight with Chinese fishermen in South Korean waters.

Last year, a collision between a Chinese fishing boat and Japanese coast guard vessels led to a diplomatic spat between the countries over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

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