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A forgotten history AN OUTSIDERS VIEW Ken Fuller 06/05/2012

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

A forgotten history

AN OUTSIDERS VIEW
Ken Fuller
06/05/2012
When Renato Corona appeared before the impeachment court on May 22, he testified that he and his wife had been converting their peso earnings to dollars since the late 1960s, when the exchange rate had been two to one. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile pressed him on this date. Not the early sixties? No, late sixties. After 1965? Affirmative.

At that point, it seemed to this outsider that Chief Justice (CJ) Corona’s goose was cooked, because Enrile obviously knew that a two-to-one exchange rate had not been available in the late sixties. In the event, Enrile made no mention of this when he explained his conviction vote on May 29, but a day earlier Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas had zeroed in on the claim during his contribution to the prosecution’s closing argument, saying that Corona would only have been able to avail of that exchange rate until 1959.

With all due respect, Rep. Fariñas was three years out. It is surprising that so few Filipino lawmakers (let alone the former Chief Justice and those who advised him) seem to be aware of the date when the value of the peso was almost halved. What makes it memorable — or should do — are the circumstances in which the devaluation occurred. Does nobody read Lichauco or Constantino anymore?.... MORE

SourceThe Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20120605com4.html

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