OVERTURN LUISITA RULING / CJ TO NAME SOLON
MANILA, MARCH 11, 2012
(STANDARD) by Rey Requejo and Maricel Cruz - MALACAÑANG said
Friday it will "ask around" to identify the alleged emissaries who talked to
Corona and asked him to overturn a Supreme Court decision to parcel out the
4,900 hectare Hacienda Luisita, owned by the family of President Aquino Aquino
III, to more than 6,000 tenants.
At least two senator-judges were allegedly involved in past efforts to unseat
Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and they are now members of the panel
of judges in the impeachment trial that seeks to oust him from office, lawyers
and politicians said on Friday.
Another Palace emissary the sources identified as retired Justice Antonio
Eduardo Nachura brokered a lunch meeting between Mr. Aquino and Corona to
discuss the creation of a Truth Commission to investigate the alleged corruption
in the previous administration.
The meeting was held in the house of Mr. Aquino's sister Elena Aquino-Cruz
between June and July 2010, Corona said.
[PHOTO - retired Justice Antonio Eduardo Nachura]
Corona, who was appointed by former President Gloria Arroyo in 2002 and would
hold office until his retirement in 2018, said one senator proposed a "term
sharing" arrangement, which he turned down, and the other sent an emissary
asking him to resign or face impeachment.
Deputy presidential spokeswoman Abigail Valte could not recall that
Malacañang sent an emissary to talk to Corona, but said she could not issue a
categorical denial from the Palace.
The chief justice's revelations, which he made in several radio interviews in
the past three days, raised questions on the impartiality of the senator-judges,
who apparently served as emissaries of the President and should inhibit
themselves from the case.
"For delicadeza, any senator-judge who has shown active partisanship in the
outcome of the impeachment trial should inhibit from the case," said opposition
and Maguindanao Rep. Simeon Datumanong.
But election lawyer Romulo Macalintal disagreed.
"In an impeachment trial, there is no standard that would constitute ground
for inhibition of a senator-judge. They are not bound by the rules [on
inhibition] because not all of them are lawyers." Macalintal said.
"It's still up to them to decide whether they should inhibit or not.''
Corona identified Teofisto Guingona as the senator who asked
him to accept a term- sharing arrangement and allow senior Supreme Court Justice
Antonio Carpio, a known ally of President Aquino, to take over.
He said another senator that he declined to identify sent an emissary asking
him to resign to avoid facing an impeachment court aimed at boosting him out of
office. He ignored the threat, saying: "I did not say anything [to the emissary]
because I didn't want to dignify [the proposal]."
Highly-placed sources in the Judiciary said Corona was referring to Senator
Franklin Drilon, the Liberal Party's vice-chairman and a known ally of President
Aquino.
Corona said that Guingona invited him for lunch last year at the house of his
father, former vice-president Teofisto Guingona, in New Manila, Quezon City,
where he said he was asked to retire early to give way to Carpio, who would take
over as chief justice of the Supreme Court.
"What do you think about retiring early and sharing your term?" Guingona
asked. "I told him that it's against the Constitution. There's no mention of
term-sharing there so that's not legally possible."
Frank Drilon, who has been dubbed as "Prosecutor Drilon" because
he has sounded like a member of the prosecution in the manner of his
questioning, denied that he and Guingona, or any member of the Liberal Party,
sent an emissary to Corona.
"I am not an emissary and I did not send an emissary. The Liberal Party also
did not send anyone as emissary on our behalf. It is better that the Chief
Justice name this senator-emissary. We also want to know," Drilon said.
Corona said he had a private meeting in 2010 with President Aquino to discuss
the creation of a Truth Commission that would investigate alleged corruption in
the administration of President Arroyo.
He said the meeting, which was arranged by Mr. Aquino's friend, retired
Justice Antonio Nachura, was held at the house of Mr. Aquino's sister, Elena
Aquino Cruz, and was attended by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa.
"We talked. He asked me what I thought of his plan to create a Truth
Commission ... I told him, Mr. President, for me if there's evidence then we can
proceed since that's our role in the judiciary. But we should abide by the
Constitution and the requirements of law."
In December 2010 the Supreme Court annulled Mr. Aquino's executive order
creating the Truth Commission, saying it violated the equal protection clause of
the Constitution.
It followed another Supreme Court ruling in November ordering the
distribution of Hacienda Luisita to more than 6,000 farmer-beneficiaries.
Corona, who started giving interviews days before his lawyers would start
presenting their case, said he is confident of acquittal because he has a "solid
defense to quash the articles of impeachment filed against him by the House of
Representatives."
But he said he was ready to accept a judgment of conviction and to surrender
his post because "I will have no other choice but to step down."
"If I lose this battle, I already laid everything I have on the ground,
including my name and my family. I will lose my retirement pay and pension. I
have nothing to gain here but everything to lose," he said.
"But this fight has become bigger than a personal battle. I'm fighting for
the judiciary as an institution ... When I submitted myself to the Senate from
the start I trusted our senators – that they will do their duty. Whatever
verdict they will have, I will accept it."
Corona's lawyers will start presenting witnesses and evidence to refute the
articles of impeachment on Tuesday next week. John
Concepcion
FROM ABS-CBN
Defense: Basa family feud irrelevant to CJ trial
by Niko Baua, ABS-CBN News Posted at 03/10/2012 8:22 PM | Updated as
of 03/10/2012 8:22 PM
MANILA, Philippines – The relatives of Cristina Corona, the wife of
Chief Justice Renato Corona recently faced the media, airing out complaints in
their family's property dispute.
They also recall an incident when the chief justice pointed a gun at their
caretaker.
Cristina's aunt, Sister Flory Basa even left a message for the couple.
"He has been doing these things to our little family. Is it right that we
will give him the opportunity to do it for the country?" she said.
Reports have also come out that the chief justice owns 31 guns.
But the defense team's spokesperson, Atty. Tranquil Salvador III, asserts
that all these issues have nothing to do with the articles of impeachment.
"Parang dine-demonize hindi lang siya kung hindi ang buong pamilya eh. Kulang
nalang nga ay bigyan siya ng sungay para maipakita na siya ay isang masamang
tao," said Salvador.
But according to the prosecution's spokesperson, Congressman Miro Quimbo, the
information about the Basas did not come from them.
The family refused to meet with the prosecution team when they tried to
invite them to talk about the impeachment case last January.
This is also the reason why they failed to get them as witnesses.
"Malinaw 'yun na lahat ng feelers sa amin ay ayaw nila at ayaw din ng
kanilang mga abogado na maging bahagi sa usapin ng impeachment," Quimbo said.
The prosecution adds that Corona's guns shouldn't be ignored because just
like jewelry, its value should also be declared in the chief justice's Statement
of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth. -- ANC
FROM THE INQUIRER
Corona to name solon 'in due time' By TJ Burgonio
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Senators demanding that Chief Justice Renato Corona identify their
colleague whom he claimed had sent an emissary to tell him to resign would have
to wait, a defense lawyer said on Saturday.
"Let's wait. In time he will identify the senator. If and when he testifies,
this question will be asked of him. If he tells it now, he might offend the
senator," said defense panel spokesperson Tranquil Salvador III in a phone
interview.
"Let's see if he decides to do it before the trial or during the
proceedings," Salvador said in a phone interview.
On the possibility of Corona taking the stand in the trial, he said the
defense would see "if it was really necessary."
In radio interviews on Friday, Corona revealed that a senator had sent an
emissary to warn him that he would be "stripped in public" if he did not resign
from the court.
The Chief Justice said the emissary had gone to see him at the Supreme Court
after he was impeached by the House of Representatives in December. Corona had
stopped short of identifying the senator whom he described as a male, lest the
latter would get "angrier" with him.
Drilon's dare
Sen. Franklin Drilon dared the Chief Justice to name the senator.
Drilon also welcomed Corona's pronouncements on his readiness to open his
bank accounts, including his dollar accounts.
Drilon asserted that these statements, in effect, rendered moot the high
court's temporary restraining order (TRO) on opening Corona's foreign currency
accounts in the Philippine Savings Bank.
"The TRO preventing the opening of the dollar accounts of the Chief Justice
has, in effect, become moot and academic since Corona said he was willing to
divulge his dollar accounts," Drilon said in a statement.
Salvador retorted that Corona was not a party to the petition filed by
PSBank, and hence, his pronouncements had no effect on the case.
Republic Act No. 6426 protects the secrecy of foreign currency deposits in
the Philippines. On the petition of PSBank, the high court had voted 8-5 to
issue a TRO stopping the impeachment court from scrutinizing Corona's dollar
accounts. The senator-judges voted to respect the TRO.
In a media blitz last week, Corona said over GMA 7 that he would make good on
his promise to make public his dollar accounts "at the right time."
The defense panel indicated that it was not closing the door to the possible
testimony of Corona at the trial itself.
Salvador said the defense was "strongly considering him to testify if there
was a need for him to testify," but this need would be continuously evaluated by
all defense lawyers during the trial.
"In the course of the trial, we will know. If there's a need, we will present
him. If we can lay our evidence without him testifying, [then we will not
present him]," he said.
Submit to counsel
"Personally, he (Corona) is open to testifying but he always has to submit to
the decision of his counsels," Salvador added in a phone interview.
Earlier, the chief of the defense panel, former justice Serafin Cuevas, ruled
out Corona taking the witness stand. But Cuevas later said that Corona's taking
the stand would depend on "necessity."
On the defense's presentation on Monday, Salvador said: "We'll start off with
our affirmative defense pertaining to the defective nature of the complaint.
What does it constitute and did the signatories understand it? Was this properly
sworn to and actually verified?"
For this, the defense is presenting one or two witnesses who have personal
knowledge about the manner by which the articles were prepared before they were
transmitted to the Senate for trial in December, Salvador said.
Cuevas had earlier indicated that Cristina Corona and six lawmakers,
including Herminaldo Mandanas, Tobias Tiangco and Crispin Remulla, would be
among their witnesses when the trial resumes this week.
House on trial
According to Salvador, Cristina Corona would testify on Article 2, which
deals with her husband's alleged nondisclosure of his statements of assets,
liabilities and net worth, and nondisclosure of assets in the SALNs.
Prosecution spokesperson, Marikina Rep. Federico Romero Quimbo, bristled at
the defense plan to highlight questions on the validity of the complaint,
calling it an attempt to put the House on trial in the impeachment court.
In his own answer to the complaint, Corona pointed to the "blitzkrieg
fashion" by which 188 representatives signed the articles, and declared the
complaint to be insufficient in substance and form.
He had argued that the complaint was "constitutionally infirm and defective"
in the sense that majority of the lawmakers were made to sign it without reading
it and thus, failed to comply with the verification requirement.
During the trial, Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas admitted to the poor
crafting of the articles and not a few senators observed that these were
"ill-prepared."
The prosecution has rested its case after presenting witnesses and documents
on Articles 2, 3 and 7, and suddenly dropping Articles 1, 4, 5, 6 and 8.
During the break, the impeachment court ruled to admit the purportedly
illegally obtained records of Corona's bank deposits. The defense objected to
this.
No pressure
The defense, which was given a whole week to prepare, doesn't feel pressured
to wrap up its presentation of witnesses and documents in the next two weeks
before Congress adjourns on March 23 for Holy Week. Congress resumes sessions on
May 7.
"The prosecution would want us to end as soon as possible. But inasmuch as
they were given leeway, we should be given leeway. It's not a question of speed.
In a trial, the accused should be given ample time to present the case,"
Salvador said.
The senator-judges dropped an earlier proposal to hold a day-long trial to
speed up the proceedings, but decided to expand the trial period from 2 p.m. to
7 p.m. Monday to Thursday beginning this week.
Does the defense expect tougher grilling from the senator-judges?
"We expect a lot of questions from them, especially if they feel that the
testimonies are material and relevant. It all depends on how the witnesses
answer questions," Salvador said.
Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi
© Copyright, 2012 by PHILIPPINE HEADLINE
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