Guingona confirms meeting with Corona, but denies proposing term-sharing with Carpio

Senator Teofisto Guingona III on Thursday confirmed that he met with Chief Justice Renato Corona last year but denied that he proposed that the latter share his term with Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.

 

"That was last year, [it was a] long time before the impeachment. It was a social lunch... hi, hello, how are you, that sort of stuff. It was nothing of the sort he was saying... that's totally untrue," Guingona told reporters.

 

Earlier in an interview over radio dwIZ, Corona alleged that during a private lunch last year, Guingona asked for his thoughts on possibly retiring early and allowing Carpio to replace him. Corona recalled telling Guingona that such would violate, afterwhich the lawmaker left. The meeting took place at the house of Guingona's father, former Vice President Teofisto Guingona III. In the event he gets acquitted in the trial and barring yet another impeachment complaint in the coming years, Corona's scheduled retirement is in 2018 yet. On the other hand, Carpio is scheduled to retire in 2019. The mandatory retirement age for justices is 70. "Social lunch" 

 

But the younger Guingona explained that he only invited Corona for a "social lunch" because the chief justice was his professor during his freshman year at the Ateneo Law School and was also acquainted with his father.

 

"I was his student in Ateneo Law School and the same time nag-abot sila, if you recall my father was executive secretary during the time of President Ramos so nag-abot sila sa Malacañang noon at nagkakilala sila," he said.

 

Because of this, he said it was "very unfortunate" that Corona made this allegation.

 

"It's totally untrue nga what he said. I mean how else can I say it... it's untrue," he said.

 

But Guingona refused to speculate on the chief magistrate's motives for saying this.

 

"I don't know why he said those things. I don't know what his motives are [for saying this] Maybe you should ask him," he said.

 

He likewise said that he is choosing to ignore this "side issue."

 

"I would rather focus on the merits of the case and continue on the impeachment trial.  Let's keep focused on the case and let's finish this case as soon as possible and let's just keep focus," he said. — RSJ, GMA News