TIME / SENATORS DIVIDED ON TRO
MANILA, FEBRUARY 12, 2012 (PHILSTAR) By Perseus Echeminada - Chief
Justice Renato Corona yesterday admitted having dollar accounts and vowed to
disclose them in due time.
Corona belied insinuations that his bid in the Supreme Court to stop the
subpoena of the Senate impeachment court on his foreign currency accounts in
Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) was a sign of guilt or obvious move to conceal
the truth.
"I will make the disclosure in due time," the Chief Justice told The STAR in
a text message.
He explained that he filed an urgent petition seeking the issuance of a
temporary restraining order (TRO) on the impeachment trial, including the
subpoena on his dollar accounts, because his rights were being violated in the
proceedings.
Corona said he just wanted legal issues to be resolved first before the
disclosure of his dollar accounts.
"Just read the petition," Corona said when asked what prompted him to file
the petition after submitting to the jurisdiction of the Senate and after more
than 10 days into the trial.
The SC voted 8-5 in a special full-court session last Thursday to issue a TRO
enjoining the Senate from implementing its subpoena on the five foreign currency
accounts in PSBank reportedly under Corona's name.
The justices, however, were acting on the petition of PSBank and its
president Pascual Garcia III, not on Corona's.
Garcia had invoked the provision on absolute confidentiality of foreign
currency deposits under Republic Act 6426 or the Foreign Currency Deposit Act,
which bars any inquiry into or examination of the details of such accounts.
The Chief Justice made a similar prayer in his petition, but also asked the
high court to stop his impeachment trial for alleged violation of his
constitutional right to due process.
In a 39-page petition filed last Wednesday, Corona urged his fellow justices
in the high tribunal to issue a TRO enjoining the Senate from proceeding with
the impeachment trial and declare the complaint null and void ab initio (from
the start).
"The impeachment complaint is null and void because it was transmitted
without due notice and hearing to CJ Corona. A simple reading of the Articles of
Impeachment will show that probable cause to impeach CJ Corona has not been
established. Per force of circumstance, this impeachment proceeding is riddled
with constitutional defects too numerous to withstand even cursory legal
scrutiny," his lawyers, led by retired SC justice Serafin Cuevas, said.
Corona lamented that his right to due process was violated by the House by
the swift transmittal of the complaint to the Senate after it was approved by
188 lawmakers in a five-hour meeting last Dec.12.
He stressed that the Senate should have not entertained the complaint for its
constitutional infirmity and lack of probable cause.
SC spokesman Midas Marquez, meanwhile, said that Corona will answer the
charges on his dollar accounts when the defense takes its turn in the trial.
"The Chief Justice will explain at the appropriate time. It's the
prosecution's turn now. Let's wait for the defense," he hinted.
Marquez also explained that the high court deferred action on Corona's
petition after the member-in-charge, Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco Jr.,
inhibited because his son, Rep. Lord Allan, was among those who signed the
impeachment complaint.
The SC instead ordered respondents in the case – the Senate, Bank of the
Philippine Islands, PSBank and House prosecutors – to submit comment in 10 days
before it decides on whether to issue the TRO or not.
Senator-judges acting as prosecutors?
Defense panel spokesperson lawyer Karen Jimeno said yesterday that some
senator-judges are "acting as prosecutors" by helping the prosecution ferret out
evidence and make up for their poor performance.
Jimeno told reporters during the weekly Rembrandt news forum that the
senator-judges are ready to stand up once they sense that members of the
prosecution are having a hard time in their direct examination of witnesses.
She, however, refused to name names.
According to Jimeno, the defense panel is helpless once a senator-judge would
stand up and start questioning a witness or making clarificatory questions.
[The defense cannot object to a senator-judge," Jimeno said.
Earlier Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile clarified that senator-judges can
ask anything they want during the trial.
Under Senate rules, the senator-judges are given only two minutes to ask
clarificatory questions, but some senators simply ignored the rule.
Jimeno also decried the presentation of illegally obtained documents to the
impeachment court which was the basis of the subpoenas sent to banks.
"We are still studying legal action to take over the illegally introduced
bank documents,"she added.
Senators divided over TRO on Chief Justice's dollar accounts
By Marvin Sy (The Philippine Star) Updated February 11, 2012 12:00
AMComments (48)
MANILA, Philippines - Senators are divided on how to deal with the
temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the Supreme Court (SC) against the
Senate, acting as an impeachment court, in relation to the opening of the
foreign currency deposit accounts of Chief Justice Renato Corona in Philippine
Savings (PSBank).
Senators Franklin Drilon and Francis Pangilinan do not believe that the SC
can interfere in the impeachment proceedings because of the mandate given by the
Constitution to the Senate as an impeachment court and the spirit of the law on
foreign currency deposits.
Drilon said that Republic Act 6426 or the Foreign Currency Deposits Act
cannot be used by the corrupt or criminals to hide their assets, which are
presumably ill-gotten.
"In my opinion, you cannot use the law to hide ill-gotten wealth. The law
cannot be used to hide the truth," Drilon said.
"They issued a TRO and we are seeking the truth. What are they hiding? If
they are not hiding anything, why should they prevent the disclosure of these
accounts," he said.
Drilon noted that the SC itself has ruled on many occasions that there are
exceptions to the prohibition on disclosures provided under RA 6426.
Drilon said that the prohibition on disclosure under RA 6426 cannot be
absolute because this could simply be used by criminals and grafters to hide
their ill-gotten wealth simply by converting their money to foreign currencies
and placing these in banks.
Pangilinan said that the Constitution is clear about the exclusive power
given to the Senate to try and decide impeachment cases, so the SC cannot
interfere in the proceedings, including the current trial of Corona.
"The impeachment process as a constitutional mechanism to exact public
accountability from the highest ranking officials of the land will be undermined
by any interference from the SC," Pangilinan said.
"Our position is that the rulings and decisions of the Senate as an
impeachment court cannot be subject to judicial review. If the senator-judges
err in the conduct of its proceedings, the correction of such error is not by
way of judicial review, but by the sovereign will of the people – who can and
ought to reject us at the polls if they believe that we committed errors in our
judgment as senator-judges," he added.
Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said yesterday the Senate should
and would proceed with the impeachment trial of Corona with or without any TRO
from the SC.
"In my humble opinion, the Supreme Court, once they rule adversely (on) the
impeachment court, I don't think it is proper. Under the Constitution, the
Senate has the sole power to try and hear impeachment cases," Estrada said.
Sen. Gregorio Honasan also shared Estrada's view, adding that the Senate has
a special mandate when it comes to impeachment cases.
'Respect TRO'
On the other hand, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said that the Senate
should respect the TRO issued by the SC.
Santiago said that the 1987 Constitution gives the SC the power to decide not
only on justiciable questions but also on political questions.
She explained that the so-called political questions would refer to policy
issues that used to be under the exclusive jurisdiction of the executive and
legislative branches.
"Under the new Constitution, in addition to judicial power, the Supreme Court
has jurisdiction over political questions. Congress can no longer invoke the
political question doctrine, it now has to follow what the Supreme Court says,"
Santiago said.
"It should stop all proceedings concerning the foreign currency deposits
because the law says it's absolutely confidential," she said.
Santiago disagreed with the position taken by her colleagues in the Senate
that the SC has no jurisdiction over the impeachment court because the
Constitution is clear about the power of the SC.
"The Senate should no longer raise a question that the Supreme Court has no
jurisdiction over the impeachment court because clearly, under the Constitution,
what the Supreme Court is doing is constitutional," Santiago said.
Santiago emphasized that the government is still under a system of checks and
balances where each of the three branches have a specific role to perform in
order to ensure that no abuses are committed by any one of them.
"If the impeachment court defies the TRO, the impeachment court is ruling
that there is no check on it and that it becomes an absolute impeachment court.
That is not allowed by our system of checks and balances," Santiago said.
"No one branch is allowed to be absolute in its power. If the impeachment
court rules that it has absolute power over anything concerning impeachment,
then there is no check on it at all. It becomes a super-branch of government.
There has to be some checks on the impeachment court. All other branches have
checks guaranteed by our tripartite system," she said.
The Senate will hold a closed-door meeting this Monday before the start of
the impeachment trial to discuss the TRO issued by the Supreme Court.
Santiago said that she expects her colleagues to defy the TRO of the Supreme
Court.
No jurisdiction
The SC, on the other hand, said the question on its jurisdiction over legal
issues raised in the impeachment of Corona remains despite actions taken by the
high tribunal on petitions emanating from the trial.
SC spokesman Midas Marquez said this issue on the jurisdiction of the SC on
the impeachment cases has not yet been resolved. – With
Christina Mendez, Edu Punay
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
NEWS ONLINE
All rights reserved
PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS
ONLINE [PHNO] WEBSITE
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/phnotweet
This is the PHILIPPINE HEADLINE NEWS ONLINE (PHNO) Mailing List.
To stop receiving our news items, please send a blank e-mail addressed to: phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Please visit our homepage at: http://www.newsflash.org/
(c) Copyright 2009. All rights reserved.
-------------------------------------------------------------Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/phno/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
phno-digest@yahoogroups.com
phno-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
phno-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
