Supreme Court OKs release of Corona s retirement benefits By VIRGIL LOPEZ, GMA News
Published February 8, 2021 12:08pm The Supreme Court (SC) has approved the immediate release of the retirement benefits and other allowances of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona to his widow, saying his removal by impeachment in 2012 did not bar him or his family from receiving them. In a decision dated January 12, the SC granted the request of Corona’s widow, Ma. Cristina, for the release of retirement benefits equivalent to a five-year lump sum of the salary and other allowances he was receiving at the time of his removal on May 29, 2012 as well as survivorship pension.
IN my column of September 7, I wrote:
âSupreme Court Associate Justice Mario Victor Leonen may be even a worse offender of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) Law than the ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. That law (called the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees) requires all state officials and employees to file their yearly SALNs.
âSereno was removed from her post in 2018 for having failed to file such reports for six years, an offense for which her colleagues decided that she had no integrity and, therefore, could not have been appointed as chief justice.