The Philippine senate has voted to fire the country's top judge for failing to disclose millions of dollars in wealth in what is being seen as a boost for President Benigno Aquino's anti-corruption campaign.

Some 20 out of 23 judges found Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona guilty Tuesday of betraying public trust and violating the constitution.

Senator Judge Franklin Drilon said Corona was unfit to remain in office.

“He has lost his moral fitness to serve the people; he has betrayed the public trust. He cannot be chief justice any longer. I find the respondent guilty of Article II.''

A lawyer for Corona says he may contest the the conviction in the Supreme Court.

Besides the corruption charges, Corona was also accused of trying to protect former leader Gloria Arroyo by ruling that she could leave the country last year despite a government ban on her overseas travel. But no verdict on that charge was delivered.

The nearly five-month long impeachment proceeding was the first conducted in the Philippines. President Aquino has said that removing Corono was crucial to ending a culture of corruption that was pervasive during the administration of Ms. Arroyo.