PHNO-HL: CJ CORONA WILL ADDRESS ALL ISSUES RELATED TO BANK ACCOUNTS - LAWYERS

CJ CORONA WILL ADDRESS ALL ISSUES
RELATED TO BANK ACCOUNTS - LAWYERS

[PHOTO
- Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife Cristina attend Sunday
Mass at the Supreme Court lobby yesterday. Manny
Marcelo]
MANILA, MAY 22, 2012 (PHILSTAR) By Christina Mendez - There is
no need for Chief Justice Renato Corona to sign a waiver on his bank accounts
because he will address all issues related to these deposits when he testifies
in his impeachment trial at the Senate tomorrow, defense lawyers said yesterday.

Corona's spokesperson Karen Jimeno said that since the chief magistrate
himself would take the witness stand, it will be useless for him to sign any
waiver.
"If he (Corona) appears as a witness, he will address the issues or questions
in relation to his bank accounts. So it's not relevant whether we need to talk
about (the need to issue a waiver or not)," Jimeno said.
"Is there any need to sign such a waiver if he himself would appear as a
witness (over those bank accounts)?" she asked.
Jimeno said the report made by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC)
brought by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to the impeachment court during her
testimony last Monday mainly dealt with transactional balances, not even
end-month balances.
"What was discussed in the AMLC report are the transactional values and we
don't really know if they really relate to verified accounts of CJ Corona,
unlike in the PSBank (Philippine Savings Bank) where the Chief Justice is really
a depositor," she said.
Jimeno also said the pending temporary restraining order (TRO) issued the
Supreme Court that prevented the impeachment court from inquiring about Corona's
dollar accounts with PSBank should not be seen as an obstacle in the trial.
"So it is the obligation of PSBank to ensure that they abide by the Bank
Secrecy law. They wanted to know how they would recognize their obligation in
relation to the issue of impeachment. So there was a question of law. That's why
they brought it to the Supreme Court," she said.
Jimeno led the defense panel in advising the public to wait for Corona's
testimony before the impeachment court tomorrow.
The defense panel debunked the recommendation of senator-judges for Corona to
issue a waiver on his bank accounts.
Senators Panfilo Lacson and Sergio Osmeña III said Corona should sign a
waiver on his dollar accounts or face intense grilling on the witness stand.

Lacson said Corona's signing the waiver to allow the banks to disclose the
amounts of his dollar deposits would be his best defense against the claims that
the documents presented by the Ombudsman before the impeachment court were
bloated and fabricated.
"That is of course by doing so, he would convincingly belie the existence of
such movements of huge amounts in the numerous accounts in the AMLC files,"
Lacson added.
Otherwise, Lacson said, "A verbal denial, i.e. via his testimony on the
witness stand, would be a very weak rebuttal that cannot turn the tide in his
favor."
'Last hurrah'
Jimeno and fellow spokespersons for the defense Tranquil Salvador III and
Rico Paolo Quicho expressed confidence that the Chief Justice is ready to take
the witness stand.
They remained optimistic that Corona would be able to explain the dollar
accounts which the Ombudsman had claimed to have reached 82 accounts with a
"transactional balance" of $10 million.
Quicho, for his part, said the defense team is working hard and "we hope it's
enough."
Quicho said the team is "preparing very hard for the last hurrah."
"This is the final stretch. As lawyers, we are very professional with our
work, and we are really cognizant of the fact that we really have to do very
well, and that the Chief Justice is reciprocating that kind of idea," Quicho
said.
"We are not really confident, as I always say, with guarded optimism I think
we would be able to get an acquittal for the Chief Justice," he said.
Defense lawyers Jose Roy III and Ramon Esguerra said Corona's fate now lies
in his own hands with his decision to testify.
According to Esguerra, the Chief Justice had weighed the pros and cons of his
decision to testify before the impeachment court.
He added that the defense team had done its best in defending Corona over the
remaining three of eight Articles of Impeachment.
"It is indeed the call now of the Chief Justice. He has advised us in the
defense that that is so. We have given him all we could by way of counsel. I
believe he has weighed the pros and cons," Esguerra said.
"We then leave to him the decision on how to address those issues and what is
best to answer them," he added.
The main battle is focused on Article 2 which is betrayal of public trust
and/or culpable violation of the Constitution for his failure to disclose some
of his properties and bank accounts in his statements of assets, liabilities and
net worth (SALNs) from 2003 to 2010.
"We are confident that he will be able to explain what needs explaining when
he takes the stand," Esguerra said.
Asked about Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc (BGEI), Esguerra said the company –
owned by Corona's wife Cristina's family – "will be part of his explanation."

Salvador said the issue about BGEI will be among the issues Corona will deal
with once he takes the witness stand.
The BGEI is the source of an P11-million loan made by the Chief Justice in
2003 and subsequently reflected under "liabilities" in his SALNs.
The P34.7-million expropriation for a Sampaloc property of BGEI, given in
trust to Corona's wife, also figured prominently in the almost five-month old
impeachment trial.
Gearing up
On the possibility that the issue of the alleged $10-million dollar accounts
would be used in another impeachment complaint if Corona is acquitted, Salvador
said the same information cannot be used again against the Chief Justice.
He said the allegations were brought before the impeachment court against
Corona and it would not be a basis for another complaint before the same court.

"If they do that in the next impeachment complaint, it would appear they are
getting frustrated," he said.
Ombudsman Morales testified that she conducted a probe on Corona after she
received three complaints.
Morales said she is empowered by law to tap government agencies in the
conduct of investigations related to impeachable officials.
As such, she had also provided the House of Representatives, through Speaker
Feliciano Belmonte Jr., a copy of her agency's report against Corona a few days
before she faced the senator-judges and the prosecution and defense panels on
May 14.
Corona's supporters are expected to troop to the Supreme Court (SC) today as
he prepares for his testimony in the impeachment trial tomorrow.
Judges and court employees will join Corona and his family in a Mass to be
celebrated by Lipa City Archbishop Ramon Arguelles in the SC quadrangle at noon.

Today's Mass will mark the conclusion of the octave Novena organized by court
employees to support Corona in the last stretch of his trial.
Jojo Guerrero, president of the 3,000-strong SC Employees Association, also
said they are holding an interfaith and sendoff prayer for the chief magistrate
at 10 a.m. tomorrow before he heads to the Senate to testify.
"We will have a motorcade and accompany CJ to the Senate," Guerrero said.

Guerrero assured the public that their work would not be affected.
"We will have Masses on Monday and Tuesday during our lunch break so there
will be no work stoppage. Those who will attend the hearing will have to file
leave as earlier instructed by our court administrator," he said.
Guerrero said they remain supportive of the Chief Justice, adding they were
not convinced by allegations and evidence presented by the House prosecutors
during the trial.
He said they find ridiculous the allegations of the Ombudsman that Corona has
had 82 dollar-denominated accounts with a "transactional balance" amounting to
$10 million, spread out over five banks as of last year based on AMLC records.

"We don't believe in it – nobody should believe in it. We don't think there
is a person who will create 82 dollar accounts and suddenly withdraw them also.
Let's give CJ the chance to disprove this allegation," Guerrero said.
Organizations of judges led by the Philippine Judges Association and
Metropolitan and City Judges Association the Philippines have also expressed
support for Corona.
Some of them are planning to file leave to attend the hearing tomorrow.
SC spokesman Midas Marquez, who has supervision over 2,000 judges and 27,000
court personnel, earlier announced that no court holiday would be declared this
Tuesday when Corona takes the witness stand – even as various groups of members
of the judiciary have set activities to show support for their embattled chief.
Marquez said those who will attend the activities would have to file leave with
their respective courts. – With Edu Punay

Corona holds 'crucial meeting' with lawyers By
Christina Mendez The Philippine Star Updated May 21, 2012 06:20 PM 3 comments to
this post

[CORONA DEFENSE TEAM]
MANILA, Philippines - Chief Justice Renato Corona is ready to answer all
questions about his assets and liabilities including the issues on his bank
accounts, including his alleged dollar deposits, once he formally testifies at
the impeachment trial.
At press time, Corona and his entire defense team were in a "crucial meeting"
in preparation for his much-awaited testimony at the Senate on Tuesday.
Corona's defense lawyers expressed full confidence that Corona and the entire
legal team have prepared well for the grand testimony by the chief magistrate,
who is facing the remaining three of the eight articles of impeachment.
Defense lawyer Rico Paolo Quicho said the team is ready to go head on with
prosecutors, but not the senator-judges.
"We are ready to face the (House) prosecutors. We're ready to lock horns with
them. We are prepared. We're willing to go 12 rounds against them. And as far as
with the senator-judges (are concerned) we've started praying. Hopefully, they
would be kinder, gentler to us," Quicho said.
"Because we cannot really object to their (senator-judges) questions. So we
are just hoping for fairness. And we're just hoping that they would wake up at
the right side of the bed this morning," Quicho added.
Quicho said Corona and his defense team have been meeting since last week to
prepare for the long-awaited testimony of the chief justice before the witness
stand.
As such, Corona knows that he is facing the high task of convincing both the
senator-judges and the public that he deserves to continue to lead the Supreme
Court, and that there is no reason to remove him from post.
"Naghahanda po talaga si CJ sa pagharap sapagkat alam niya po ito ay hindi
magiging madali. Sapagkat alam niya po na hindi lamang po haharapin ang
senator-judges, kakausapin din po niya ang publiko at ipapaliwanag ang mga
issues na binato sa kanya," Quicho said.
Quicho assured the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, that Corona will
respect the process and that he expects that he would also be accorded the same.

"Asahan po natin na si CJ ay talagang handa, siya ay magiging magalang at
makikita po natin ang isang chief justice na maari pa hong magpatuloy sa kanyang
pamumuno sa ating Korte Suprema," Quicho said.
"Gagalangin nya po ang proseso, at siya ay umaasa na a ng proseso ay
gagalangin po sya," the lawyer added.
Meanwhile, Senate majority leader Vicente Sotto III said that Senate
President Juan Ponce Enrile reminded all senator-judges during Monday's caucus
to avoid unnecessary statements during the questioning of Corona to avoid
"controversies."
Sotto said that the two-minute rule will be strictly implemented by the
Senate impeachment court.
Among the key issues that Corona is expected to answer are the bank accounts
he maintained with PS Bank and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI), which
were subject of the testimony of bank officials during the early part of the
trial.
Corona's lawyers said the chief justice may or may not bring bank statements
depending on whether these are necessary to be presented before the court.
Corona's lawyers indicated also that the chief magistrate will debunk claims
by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who testified last week about Corona's
alleged 82 dollar accounts, with $10- to $12-million in transactional balance.

The bank accounts will likely be reduced to three or four, contrary to the
claims of Morales who based her testimony on the 17-page report of the
anti-money laundering council.
Ombudsman subpoena not a mistake
Another defense lawyer, Tranquil Salvador III parried observations that the
defense team's move to call Morales to the witness stand prior to Corona's
testimony was a wrong move.
"This situation, the people think it backfired when the Ombudsman. We laid
the predicate to his presentation. Pag-upo niya, yung baril na ilalabas, alam na
namin kung ilan. Kung sampu ang itutok, alam namin eh… That's the comfort what I
see for now, we know what goods they have on him right now," Salvador said.
Salvador recognized that the prosecution and Corona's accusers will
nonetheless bring the issue outside of the impeachment court, destroy Corona
until the verdict comes out.
With the Ombudsman's ammunition all out a week before Corona's testimony, the
defense team was able to prepare further for his date with history at 2 p.m.
today at the Senate.
Karen Jimeno, a defense spokesman, maintained that Corona can still invoke
his rights under the Constitution despite his decision to take the witness
stand.
"It doesn't mean that once you are at the witness stand you are stripped of
your rights as an accused. You rights, as the law states, remains. He might
invoke it, and he might altogether say, I will face all of this," Jimeno said.

Jimeno said there is no mock trial or a rehearsal but other defense lawyers
revealed that they provided Corona a set of questions and issues that they
expect to be brought up during the trial.
"We thought it best to just give him all the details and the issues that may
be asked of him which he should answer. We laid it for him. So that is why, we
also have no clue as to what would be his testimony," Jimeno said.



Chief News Editor: Sol
Jose Vanzi

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