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The country’s two biggest business organizations have cited the determination of the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, to put good governance the foremost priority in government service and a triumph of democracy as shown by the conclusion of the 44-day Impeachment Trial of the country’s chief magistrate, Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“Once again, our government has demonstrated its political will, its determination and its focus to carry out good governance as its centerpiece. It achieved what seemed impossible,” said Francis Chua, chairman emeritus of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines.
“President Aquino's ‘Matuwid na Daan’ cannot be derailed,” Chua said.

In a statement, the Makati Business Club, which openly supported the Aquino’s campaign for governance reforms in government, said the “Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, has spoken.”

“While certain rules and parameters had to be defined along the way due to the, in many ways, unprecedented nature of this impeachment trial, the Makati Business Club believes that the process leading to the senator judges’ final decision against Chief Justice Renato Corona was transparent, fair, and impartial,” the statement said.

“Mr. Corona and his defense team were given every opportunity to respond to the charges leveled against the Chief Justice, but the bar of integrity and moral fitness for the top magistrate of our country’s judicial system must necessarily be set at the highest levels,” the MBC said.

The elite business club said they held the outcome of this impeachment trial as a triumph of Philippine democracy’s system of checks and balances, and a revalidation of the fundamental principle that public office is a public trust and that all public officials are therefore accountable to the people.

“Our country has taken another major step in the challenging road to political maturity. It is our sincere hope that this difficult process will lead to the strengthening and deepening of the commitment to build a culture of integrity not just in the Supreme Court and the judicial system but in the other branches of government—the Executive, the Senate, and the House of Representatives—and the private sector as well. Let us now work together to pursue with greater vigor the many necessary judicial, legal, political, and economic reforms that will strengthen and institutionalize the fight against corruption and uphold good governance,” the statement said.

by: PNA/PIA9-ZBST