MARSHALL ALL EVIDENCE, PROSECUTION TOLD
MANILA, JANUARY 26,
2012 (TRIBUNE) By Angie M. Rosales - Lead
House prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr. got his seemingly daily dose of tongue
lashing from Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago yesterday, this time over the
nature of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares' testimony before the
impeachment court.
The skill of the prosecution panel, including its private prosecutors, were
put to a test anew in yesterday's sixth day of the impeachment trial of Supreme
Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.
Tupas and private prosecutor Arthur Lim were both recipients of sparks from
firebrand Santiago which highlighted the former's apparent "inexperience" in law
practice inside a court room.
Santiago demanded that Tupas categorize Henares as either an ordinary witness
or an expert witness in relation to the income tax return (ITR) the prosecutors
presented in the Senate trial as evidence in the impeachment complaints against
Chief Justice Renato Corona.
"Are you introducing this witness merely as an attesting officer and not
testify to the veracity of the tax records, that's not possible. Or are you
introducing her as an expert witness?" Santiago asked Tupas.
Tupas sought to consult with a private prosecutor but was cut off by Santiago
who snapped at him: "You should know those things. Do not pass them on to
private prosecutor. That is a basic question."
Tupas after an uneasy moment replied that Henares was an "ordinary witness,"
to which Santiago said that as such Henares would only be allowed to attest to
"You can ask the expert witness hypothetical questions but as an ordinary
witness she will testify ... only on what she knows. As a commissioner of the
BIR she cannot be examined directly or indirectly on whether the allegations in
the income tax returns are true. That cannot be the purpose," she said. Her
purpose is only to prove that it is the same paper filed, Santiago added.
Tupas was not the only one that received a dressing down from the volatile
Senator-judge.
Private prosecutor Arturo Lim also pricked Santiago's temper after an
argument between private prosecutor Art Lim and retired associate justice
Serafin Cuevas on admitting Henares as a witness left her out when she tried to
raise a point.
"Please do not treat me as a mere observer. I am a judge in this proceeding.
In any trial court, you go into a court room, you should not speak, you should
not take any behavior at all unless with the consent of the presiding judge. Do
not drown me out by screaming in this court room. Only I can scream here and my
fellow judges," she said in scolding the two lawyers.
"We are wasting time here because of the orations! Don't orate in here. This
is not a school on oratorical skills. This is a school of logic and experience,"
Santiago said, obviously addressing Lim.
When it was Tupas' turn to take the floor and present Henares, Santiago also
did not let the lead prosecutor, merely present Lim as the one that will conduct
direct questioning on the BIR chief unless he had managed to explain why.
"Yesterday I proposed and up to today I support the admission in evidence of
the testimony of the BIR commissioner. However I wish to say the following: one,
if the purpose is to prove the veracity, she's incompetent to verify whether the
ITR states the truth or not; No. 2 if the purpose is to prove allegations of
unexplained wealth, that is also irrelevant because the court has already
announced that it will decide on whether to accept evidence on the charge of ill
gotten wealth at a later time," she asked.
"We are presenting BIR Commissioner Kim Henares to testify on the
truthfulness," Tupas said.
"Oh you cant! That is the ruling of myself and of the rest of my colleagues,"
Santiago said, pointing out that Henares cannot testify on the veracity of an
ITR as this document is merely filed before her office.
"She does not go and see if that is correct or not. That is the function of
another office," the senator pointed out.
Tupas then managed to provide the "right" answer Santiago was trying to
elicit from him, telling the cout that Henares is "an ordinary witness."
Like a student being given a lecture from a professor, Santiago explained to
Tupas that if he introduced her as an expert witness, he can ask her
hyphothetical questions.
"But if she is an ordinary witness, she will testify only as to first-hand
knowledge. Anything else will be hearsay. She's actually one of the higher
officials of our country. But she's in her capacity appearing here as
commissioner of IR, she cannot possibly be examined direct or indirect on
whether the allegations in the ITR are true. That cannot be the purpose. We're
asking you what is the purpose? You're purpose simply is to prove that this is a
piece of paper, the same piece of paper that was filed in her bureau. She's
going to be attesting that this is a correct, a copy of the original," she said.
Tupas also received a beating from Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero after he told
the impeachment court that they would be appealing the ruling preventing them
from introducing in the proceedings pieces of evidence they claim as
"ill-gotten" wealth of Corona.
"With respect to the ruling, we reserve our right to file a motion for
reconsideration upon receipt of written order," he said.
Escudero practically reminded Tupas to review the rules of the impeachment
proceedings as the prosecution's "wish" is not feasible as such privilege is
only available to senator-judges.
"Just a point of order, it is my understanding that it is only a member of
the Senate can seek a reconsideration from the ruling of the chair. Any rulings
of the chair is considered the ruling of the Senate itself unless a member of
the Senate seeks a reconsideration or a vote in plenary from the same ruling and
not by any of the parties," commented Escudero.
"That is a correct parliamentary rule and I think that is followed in
impeachment trials outside of this country. So I hope the prosecution is
well-advised," said presiding officer, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.
FROM THE PHILSTAR
Prosecution told to marshal evidence By Jun
Pasaylo and Dennis Carcamo The Philippine Star Updated January 24, 2012 02:28 PM
MANILA, Philippines – The prosecution panel was told today to prepare
all their evidence against Chief Justice Renato Corona to hasten the ouster
trial against the chief magistrate.
This after prosecution panel head Rep. Neil Tupas Jr. asked the Senate
impeachment court to be more liberal in handling the proceeding against Corona.
"This impeachment court has been acting like a regular court," Tupas said.
Presiding Senator-Judge Juan Ponce Enrile reiterated that while he observed
leniency in handling the case, he noted that it is his duty to ensure order in
the proceeding.
Enrile even said he is willing to step down to be the chairman of the
impeachment court if the senator-judges are dissatisfied with the way he has
been handling the proceeding.
"Kung hindi nyo matanggap ang ruling ko, ibibigay ang aking upuan sa gustong
pumalit sa akin," Enrile told the 20 senator-judges who attended the fifth day
of the impeachment trial.
"I want to be candid with you (prosecution). You have time to marshal your
evidence. I assume you have assembled evidence for each article," he added.
He also noted that the prosecution should have assembled all the evidence of
the Articles of Impeachment before the trial has even started last week.
Last week, the Senate impeachment court has allowed the prosecution to tackle
Article 2 first instead of Article 1 as the prosecution admitted that it failed
to muster the pieces of evidence needed for the trial.
No ill-gotten wealth in Article 2
Meantime, the defense panel reiterated that the prosecution failed to include
the ill-gotten wealth accusation in the Article 2 of Impeachment.
At the start of the trial today, defense counsel Serafin Cuevas reiterated
that the only accusation in Article 2 was the failure of Corona to disclose his
statement of assets, liabilities and networth (SALN).
But Tupas said they have clearly included the allegations of ill-gotten
wealth in Article 2.
"Ang pag-uusap ay hindi kung naiintindihan ni Corona ang mga bintang kundi
kung sinunod niyo ba ang procedure," Cuevas pointed out.
"There is no allegation of ill-gotten wealth in Article 2," he added.
Article 2 of Impeachment stated: "Failure to disclose to the public his
(Corona) statements of assets and liabilities and networth as required under
Section 17, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution."
Prosecution gets admonition
Meanwhile, the prosecution panel got an admonition from Senator-Judge Miriam
Defensor Santiago after they failed to give definite answer on how many
witnesses they intended to present in the entire impeachment proceeding.
This after Santiago, a newly-appointed magistrate of the International
Criminal Court, asked both prosecution and defense panels on the total number of
witnesses they wanted to present in the entire trial.
"Don't shake your head at me. You should come prepared," Santiago told Tupas
when he could not directly give the exact number of their witnesses.
"Submit list of your witnesses, and the substance of their testimony," added
Santiago.
The defense, for their part, said they have 15 witnesses in the entire
impeachment proceeding.
Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE
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rights reserved
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