BACOLOD CITY – Court employees in Bacolod City and Negros Occidental join their colleagues in other parts of the country in their disappointment over the conviction of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona in the Senate impeachment trial.

"Well, more or less we are demoralized but we must abide by the verdict," Zen Capatar, president of the Philippine Association of Court Employees- Negros Occidental said in an interview.

She said they will hold a mass on Friday for unity and thanksgiving.

Twenty senators, including Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, found Corona guilty of Article 2 of the complaint filed against him pertaining to his failure to disclose to the public his statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth.

In Bacolod, Municipal Trial Court in Cities Branch 1 Judge Jose Paolo Arriola, a staunch Corona supporter, did not hide his displeasure over the guilty verdict.

"If I had my way, if I were in his (Corona) place then I will exhaust all means. They destroyed the man," he said in a separate interview. "(If I were him) I will step down, but I will bring it to a higher level."

Arriola had earlier called the Corona trial a travesty. "If they don't like your decision, you will be impeached. That's making the judges and the judiciary enslaved by Malacañang," he said.

During the PACE national convention earlier this month, Corona informed the 2,000 court employees at the gathering of the accomplishments of the judiciary under his two-year leadership.

Corona highlighted three priority reform areas "aimed at making the administration of justice more efficient, effective and accessible particularly to the disadvantaged and marginalized."

He said these accomplishments were born out of the collective effort of officials and personnel of the judiciary, inspite of "vicious political attacks" thrown at the third co-equal branch of government.*NLG