Chief Justice Renato C. Corona impeached last week in Manila

Mr. Corona lost his job after it was disclosed in his impeachment trial that he had failed to declare $2.4 million in foreign currency deposits. Supporters of President Benigno S. Aquino III have said the chief justice needed to be removed because they feared he would be an obstacle to investigations of past corruption, especially those related to Mr. Corona’s patron, former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

The prosecution of Mrs. Arroyo and her allies has been central to Mr. Aquino’s anti corruption campaign and comes as the economy is improving and the nation is attracting more foreign investment.

This was the first time that a high-level Philippine official had been removed from office after impeachment and conviction. Officials here are often removed through street protests.

The case has been politically delicate from the start and is tied up with a feud between the Aquinos and Mrs. Arroyo, who is a member of the House of Representatives but did not support the impeachment. Mr. Corona was Mrs. Arroyo’s chief of staff before she appointed him to the Supreme Court in 2002. She named him chief justice just days after Mr. Aquino won the presidency. Mr. Aquino and his supporters argue the move was meant to squelch efforts to build corruption cases against Mrs. Arroyo and those in her administration.

“Our people followed this trial closely, and in this exercise we have demonstrated to them, and to the international community, that our country adheres and subscribes to the democratic framework,” said Senator Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, whose father, President Joseph Estrada, was forced out of office by popular protests after a failed impeachment trial on corruption charges.

Mr. Corona was impeached in December by the House of Representatives with the support of Mr. Aquino’s allies. The Senate then acted as an impeachment court. Its hearings, which were televised live, had moments of high drama, including weeping and a walkout by the chief justice during testimony.

Mr. Corona faced no criminal or civil charges, though cases could still be filed against him, and he is barred from ever holding public office. Although Mr. Corona faced an impeachment charge of making decisions that were biased in favor of Mrs. Arroyo and her supporters, the Senate never voted on it because after a conviction was obtained on the first charge, which involved hiding assets — the $2.4 million as well as 80 million pesos, worth about $1.8 million, that he had in bank accounts — the trial ended. The Senate then voted, 20 to 3, to remove Mr. Corona from office.

“Bad politics prevailed,” Mr. Corona said in a statement in which he insisted he was innocent. “My conscience is clear.”

Lawyers for the chief justice had said earlier that if he were convicted, they would appeal to the Supreme Court. But the Senate president, Juan Ponce Enrile, who acted as the presiding judge in the trial, said the ruling was “final and executory” and could not be appealed.

Ronald Holmes, an assistant professor of political science at De La Salle University in Manila, agreed, saying, “The impeachment court has sole jurisdiction.” Mr. Corona’s supporters say that Mr. Aquino is trying to consolidate power by attacking the judiciary. The chief justice has also accused the president of favouring the impeachment in retaliation for court rulings that ordered the breakup of an Aquino family plantation, an accusation the president has denied. Senator Miriam Santiago, who voted for acquittal, mocked the seriousness of the allegations against Mr. Corona and noted that many officials in the Philippines were likely to have done what he did. “What a hypocritical accusation,” she said.

In testimony on Friday, Mr. Corona insisted that under his interpretation of the law, he was not required to disclose the money. During testimony that was marked by breaks for medical check-ups of Mr. Corona, the chief justice debated the legalities of reporting requirements for government officials.

In the Philippines, senior officials are required to file a statement of assets, liabilities and net worth each year to verify that they are not enriching themselves from their positions. One of the impeachment articles against the chief justice states that he under declared his assets.

Mr. Corona, a former corporate lawyer, testified that his foreign deposits came from more than three decades of savings. But most senators did not accept his explanation. “The failure to declare $2.4 million and some 80 million pesos is not minor,” said Senator Pia Cayetano, who voted to convict.