Chief Justice Renato Corona

Today in Philippine History (Philatelic Edition Series 3):

October 15, 1948

Renato Tereso Antonio Coronado Corona (October 15, 1948 – April 29, 2016), the 23rd Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines was born on October 15, 1948 in Santa Ana, Manila. 

His parents were Juan M. Corona, a lawyer from Tanauan, Batangas, and Eugenia Ongcapin Coronado of Santa Cruz, Manila. 

He graduated grade school in 1962 and high school in 1966 with gold medal honors at the Ateneo de Manila. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Ateneo de Manila in 1970, Bachelor of Laws at the Ateneo Law School in 1974 and placed 25th in the bar exams. 

Corona obtained his Master of Business Administration degree at the Ateneo Professional Schools and was accepted to the Master of Laws program of the Harvard Law School in 1981. He was conferred the degree LL.M. in 1982. He earned his Doctor of Civil Law degree from the University of Santo Tomas, summa cum laude. 

A law professor and a private law practitioner, Corona served as a member of the Cabinet of Presidents Fidel V. Ramos and Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. 

Pres. Arroyo appointed him on April 9, 2002 as Associate Justice, and as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on May 12, 2010, upon the retirement of Chief Justice Reynato Puno. 

During the term of President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, the Supreme Court issued a decision on the Hacienda Luisita case on July 5, 2011. Under the agrarian reform laws, the Court upheld both the distribution of land to the hacienda's farm workers and the revocation of the SDO agreement forged in 1989. 

The Cojuangco family which Presidents Corazon Cojuangco Aquino and Benigno Simeon Aquino III belong, was given a ten-year window to distribute the lands to the farmers as stipulated. 

On December 6, 2011, President Aquino's allies in the House of Representatives voted to impeach him over charges of hidden assets and partiality towards Arroyo. On December 12, 2011, 188 of the 285 members of the House of Representatives signed an impeachment complaint against him. The complaint was sent to the Senate for trial. 

On May 29, 2012, he was found guilty by the Senate of Article II of the Articles of Impeachment filed against him. The Senate voted 20-3 in May 2012 and convicted him for betrayal of public trust due to his failure to disclose all his properties in his statement of assets, liabilities (SALN) and net worth. 

Corona was removed from office and succeeded by Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. The three senators who did not vote for his conviction were Senators Meriam Defensor-Santiago, Joker Arroyo and Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who became president. 

In a privilege speech on September 25, 2013, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada revealed that all 20 of them received ₱50 million each to remove Corona from office, while the three never got any. 

Corona died on April 29, 2016 due to complications of a heart attack. In June 2016, the Sandiganbayan Third Division dismissed the pending criminal cases of Corona. 

Chief Justice Renato Corona was married to Cristina Basa Roco Corona and they had three children.

(Design, concept, stamps and research: Richard Allan B. Uy) All rights reserved

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