CORONA IS A LAME DUCK CJ
MANILA, DECEMBER
28, 2011 (STAR)
By Jess Diaz and Marvin Sy - "Weak and defective" was how prosecutors of
the House of Representatives described yesterday the answer of Chief Justice
Renato Corona to the impeachment complaint filed against him with the Senate.
Speaking for the prosecution panel, Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo said Corona's
answer does not even have his signature.
"It also lacks what lawyers call 'verification,' in which a respondent swears
that he is telling the truth and that his statements in his answer are of his
personal knowledge.
Verification is a cardinal requirement in all court proceedings, including an
impeachment trial, Quimbo told a news conference.
"Because this important part of his answer to the complaint is missing, we
will not be able to hold the Chief Justice liable for perjury if he is found
lying in any of his allegations in his answer," Quimbo said.
At the same time, Quimbo said the prosecution panel is urging Corona to go on
leave "so he would not be suspected of using or misusing court personnel and
resources for his defense."
Quimbo said SC administrator Midas Marquez sounded as if he was Corona's
defense lawyer instead of a spokesman for the high court.
"The Chief Justice should go on leave to spare the court and so that he can
concentrate on his defense," Quimbo said.
He said the panel would raise the issue on the missing Corona signature and
verification during the Chief Justice's impeachment trial.
"But we will not dwell on this at length because we want to proceed with the
eight specific charges. And based on our assessment of his answer, we are
confident of getting a conviction," Quimbo said.
"One proof that we have a strong case is the fact that CJ Corona has hired
the most expensive defense lawyers in town," he added.
He said he was wondering why defense lawyers, who presented Corona's answer
to the Senate, failed to have the respondent sign the document and submit a
verification, also known in legal language as jurat.
"It cannot be that the document they presented to the Senate is the answer of
the respondent's lawyers and that the respondent could disown it. That cannot be
the case," he said.
He conceded that the Senate impeachment rules are silent on whether a
signature and verification are needed, but stressed that these are required
under the Rules of Court, which the impeachment court will use in addition to
its own rules.
He pointed out that Corona considers verification so important that he
devoted 16 pages of his 79-page answer to questioning whether congressmen read
and understood the impeachment complaint they filed against him.
"But he failed to name even one witness to support his contention that the
complaint was not properly verified. Even if one, two or 50 signatories will
admit that they did not read the complaint, that won't matter because I am sure
that we have at least 95, or one-third of House members, who have read the
complaint and understood it," he said.
He said the prosecution panel would dispute in detail the respondent's
allegations in a comment it would submit to the Senate within five days.
For his part, House prosecution team member Neri Colmenares said Corona's
answer "is weak and failed to argue against the jurisdiction of the Senate."
"So we will argue that the trial should proceed because the Senate has
jurisdiction, and that the claim that the Chief Justice cannot be convicted
merely because the decisions listed in the complaint were collegial is absurd
because the Constitution requires that each Supreme Court justice be independent
and impartial," he said.
"Therefore, any justice proven to be biased or partial in favor of a party to
a case may be impeached even if the decision is collegial. The issue is whether
the Chief Justice was biased in favor of Arroyo when he immediately scheduled
the Arroyos' TRO (temporary restraining order) petition and voted to grant it
despite non-fulfillment of its three conditions," he said.
Colmenares pointed out that the other justices' possible partiality to the
Arroyos cannot make Corona's own partiality justifiable, hence he can still be
convicted for such infraction.
To help the prosecution team, lead public prosecutor Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas
Jr. announced that they have engaged the services of Mario Bautista as lead
private prosecutor/counsel.
"Bautista is a well respected and principled veteran lawyer. He has an
impeachment trial experience in the Estrada Senate trial as lawyer for witness
Clarissa Ocampo. He shall have overall supervision over volunteer lawyers who
will handle the eight Articles of Impeachment," he said.
Quimbo said Bautista would coordinate the prosecution panel's overall
strategy. He added that the lead private prosecutor would be rendering his
services for free.
Swift trial sought
As the Senate – convened as an impeachment court – prepares to hear Corona's
case, opposition Sen. Joker Arroyo said he sees the trial lasting no more than a
month, that is if the prosecutors and the judges can keep themselves from
grandstanding.
"Unless the parties meander into extraneous matters and grandstand and the
Senate tolerates it, the trial should be straightforward and brief," Arroyo
said.
"The people and the government have other more important things to attend to
rather than get fixated on the trial's entertainment value," Arroyo pointed out.
He said Corona's impeachment trial may be easier to finish since the eight
Articles of Impeachment prepared against him "are not complicated at all." He
said even the impeachment trial of former US president Bill Clinton was
concluded in 33 days with his acquittal.
Arroyo, then as congressman, was a member of the prosecution team during the
impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada in 2000.
Arroyo explained that the Articles of Impeachment against the Chief Justice
were based on public documents, including published decisions of the Supreme
Court; the proceedings of the Judicial and Bar Council; and the two temporary
restraining orders issued by the SC.
"The authenticity of the text of the Supreme Court decisions and rulings
cannot be contested, although the prosecutors and the defense may argue over its
implications," Arroyo said. "The allegations in the Articles of Impeachment
revolve mainly around questions of law and hardly over facts. Questions of law
are resolved on the basis of the legal arguments of each side. Questions of fact
are resolved through evidence, testimonial or documentary," he added.
Other documents that may have to be presented during the trial are Corona's
Statements of Assets and Liabilities, the Judiciary Development Fund and the
Special Allowance for the Judiciary.
"Chief Justice Corona has filed his answer to the House's Articles of
Impeachment. With that, the issues are joined as it is called in procedural law,
meaning each party's position has been defined and the issues controverted,"
Arroyo said.
"With that, the Senate should be able to make a ruling, whether it is
conviction or acquittal and finish the trial in one month," he added.
Arroyo said he is worried about how politicians and lawyers in the
impeachment trial would behave in the presence of media, or specifically in
front of television cameras.
As agreed upon by the senators before they went on Christmas break, the
impeachment trial would be from Monday to Thursday at 2 p.m. Regular sessions
would only be on Mondays and Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday mornings
would be reserved for the confirmation hearings of the Commission on
Appointments.
"The Clinton trial, where the US senators did not wear togas, was not covered
entirely by national TV. The US Senate decided on what could be televised and
what would not be televised," Arroyo said.
AS far as Malacañang is concerned, Renato Corona is a
lameduck Chief Justice.
MANILA
TIMES - Spokesman Edwin Lacierda on Tuesday confirmed that President Benigno
Aquino 3rd has instructed his legal team to shop for the replacement of Corona
"in any eventuality."
Lacierda clarified that Corona will only be replaced if he will voluntarily
resign on or before the impeachment trial at the Senate which will commence
January 16.
He added that the next Chief Justice President Aquino wants should be like
Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno who issued a dissenting opinion on the
court's decision stopping the watchlist order against former President and now
Rep. Gloria Arroyo of Pampanga.
Sereno is the first appointee of Mr. Aquino to the High Tribunal.
"We need judicial reform. We need an independent Supreme Court, that's what
we've been fighting for. We do not want a compliant SC. We want an SC that truly
heeds the mandate of the people. Of the three
branches, the SC is the unelected portion and we believe that they should
also remember their pledge of loyalty to the Filipino people," he said.
In defending the President, Lacierda added that since Mr. Aquino is not a
lawyer, he has to rely on his legal team to search for people like Sereno.
"Just to let you know, Marilou Sereno was not known to the President. He will
look into their qualifications and see if there are some who are worthy to be
members of the Supreme Court," he said.
Lacierda said that the legal team is expected to come out with a list of
candidates.
"So let's wait for that list to be proposed by the legal advisers of the
President. We still don't know what he intends to do with it," he added.
Reply sent to House Meanwhile, the Senate Secretary General on Tuesday
transmitted the reply of Corona to the House of Representatives for the latter
to respond to it.
Lawyer Valentina Cruz, spokesperson for the Impeachment Court in the Senate,
said that the House is expected to submit a response to Corona's reply by
January 2.
Under the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials adopted by the Senate
sitting as the Impeachment court, the House is given five non-extendible days to
file its reply on the chief magistrate's response.
Since the deadline for the submission of the House's reply falls on January
1, 2012, a holiday and a Sunday, they can file it on the following working day
or on January 2.
Cruz also said that 32 copies of Corona's reply will go to all 32 offices of
the Senate including that of the 23 senators.
She said that after the House submits its reply, the proceedings of the
Impeachment Court will continue on January 16, also the resumption of the
session.
The Chief Justice has assembled a powerhouse legal team made up of Serafin
Cuevas, German Lichauco 2nd, Jose Roy 3rd, Ernesto Francisco Jr., Dennis Manalo
and Jacinto Jimenez. Cuevas is also a lawyer of the influential Iglesia ni
Kristo.
The Chief Justice also said that the Chief Executive cannot hide his desire
to have "a friendly, even compliant, Supreme Court as an ally."
"Any president, Mr. Aquino included, hopes for a Supreme Court that
consistently rules in his favor. Ensuring political advantage would amply
justify the allegation that President Aquino seeks to subjugate the Supreme
Court," he added.
Corona's counsels maintained that "many circumstances and events dating back
to the election of President Aquino support the conclusion that it was he who
desired to appoint the Chief Justice and who instigated and ordered the filing
of impeachment charges to remove Chief Justice Corona."
Corona sought the outright dismissal of the complaint against him,
maintaining that it is "insufficient in substance and form."
Strength from family Corona said that he draws strength from God, his wife
and children, and persons believing in him in his fight for justice and to prove
his innocence.
In a recent interview with The Manila Times, Corona said that he did not
expect the outpouring of support from judges, justices, lawyers and court
employees.
The chief magistrate said that all that he wants is for the Constitution to
prevail. Being the Chief Justice, he said that will be the first defender of
freedom and justice in accordance with the Constitution.
"Prayers and faith are all I am clinging to. I am losing all hopes for reason
and the Constitution to prevail," Corona added. WITH REPORTS
FROM RITCHIE A. HORARIO AND JOMAR CANLAS
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2011 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
All
rights reserved
PHILIPPINE
HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
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