COURT EQUAL / LACIERDA: SENATE HAS FULL JURISDICTION
MANILA, FEBRUARY
11, 2012 (BULLETIN) The Supreme
Court and the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, share equal powers.
This was the opinion shared by respected constitutionalist Fr. Joaquin
Bernas, SJ, Wednesday night before members of the Philippine Constitution
Association (Philconsa).
Contrary to the belief of many senators, the Senate is not a superior branch
even if it is acting as an impeachment body, Fr. Bernas said.
With the continued insistence of the senators that they are above all
branches when the Senate acts as an impeachment court (IC), Fr. Bernas aired
fears a clash between the legislature and the judiciary.
"By saying that the Senate as an impeachment court is superior to the Supreme
Court, the two bodies are placed in a collision course. When an irressitable
force moves... someone has to give in," Fr. Bernas said during the oath-taking
ceremony of Philconsa at the historic landmark Manila Hotel Wednesday night.
"These are just samples of the problems that are arising in the course of
impeachment trial. The climactic moment will come when the Senate, acting as a
court, will enter its verdict," he added.
What the senators failed to understand, according to Fr. Bernas, was the fact
that they were still a legislative branch of government even if they assumed the
function as an impeachment court.
"It seems to me they failed to acknowledge that the powers being exercised
during the impeachment trial are powers given to the Senate but only to be
exercised on occasion. These powers are dormant until an impeachment trial
arises," Fr. Bernas pointed out.
"In other words, there is only one Senate which occasionally acts as an
impeachment court, in the same manner there is only one Supreme Court. The
Senate – whether acting as impeachment court or legislative body – is the same
Senate that is co-equal and not superior to the other departments," he added.
If there's one thing that is above all the three branches, Fr. Bernas said
"the Constitution is the only thing superior" to the three branches.
"There is no superiority of one over the others. There is only the
Constitution over all," he said.
On the question when the SC can step in during an impeachment proceeding, the
respected constitutionalist said the High Tribunal can help in terms of
determining the meaning of the law, especially during the times when there's
violation of constitutional rights.
He cited the impeachment cases of former Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. and
former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez wherein the Supreme Court came in to
resolve matters of interpreting the law of impeachment.
In electoral tribunal cases, when the Constitution says the electoral
tribunal shall be the sole judge of all election contests, the SC came in to
determine whether there has been grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or
excess of jurisdiction on the part of the tribunal.
"What all these means is that the SC can come in when it is needed to
determine the meaning of the law. This does not mean superiority of the SC over
other departments. All it means is that the Constitution has placed in the SC
the power to determine with finality the meaning of the law," he explained.
Meanwhile, the public has been urged to remain calm in monitoring
developments of the ongoing trial of the impeached Chief Justice before the
Senate, a lawmaker appealed Wednesday night.
Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez asked the public to protect and defend the
Constitution against those who will attempt to trample upon it, noting that the
Constitution reigns supreme to preserve the country's democracy.
"For now, all that we can do is observe the process and remain vigilant to
ensure that the rule of law will always prevail, and at the same time, stand
guard against those who want to undermine the Constitution," Romualdez said.
(With a report from Rio Rose Ribaya)
Palace Sees Full Senate Jurisdiction By GENALYN D.
KABILING February 9, 2012, 7:56pm
MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang declared on Thursday that there will
be no constitutional crisis in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato C.
Corona, insisting the Supreme Court (SC) cannot meddle with or stop the
proceedings under the full jurisdiction of the Senate.
Amid reports the camp of Corona has asked the High Tribunal to stop the
release of his bank records in the trial, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda
said the Constitution clearly states that the impeachment process is the sole
and exclusive authority of the Senate.
Lacierda said the Senate, sitting as impeachment court, is a "unique
constitutional entity" mandated to check the accountability of impeachable
officials, including the President, Vice President and members of the SC.
"There is no constitutional crisis," said Lacierda. "The Senate sitting
impeachment court and senators sitting as judges are very clear with their
mandate. They are there to hold impeachable officials accountable."
Speaking at a news conference, he added: "The Constitution is very clear
here. The Senate has the sole and exclusive jurisdiction to try impeachment
cases. Nowhere is it found in the Constitution that the Supreme Court has power
to interfere in an impeachment case."
Lacierda affirmed that the Senate impeachment court is "supreme" due to its
limited constitutional mandate to try officials of government.
"The Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over the case. You cannot have someone
being checked to be checking the impeachment court. That's not the idea of the
commissioners when they framed the Constitution," he said.
On Corona's move to seek relief from the high court, Lacierda said the Chief
Justice is looking for a "friendly venue" to voice out their frustrations. He
said Corona could be hiding the truth amid his refusal to open his bank accounts
in impeachment trial.
Mum On Dollar Account
At the continuation of the impeachment trial on Thursday, the president of
the PSBank refused to reveal details pertaining to the dollar accounts of the
Chief Justice, saying it would violate the law of foreign currency deposits.
PSBank President Pascual Garcia III took the witness stand for the second
time on Thursday despite his non-disclosure of Corona's dollar account.
Garcia was pressed intensively about the dollar account by Senate President
Juan Ponce Enrile, Senators Franklin Drilon, Jinggoy Estrada, and Allan Peter
Cayetano but he stood pat on this decision not to disclose any details about the
dollar account.
When they failed to obtain information about Corona's dollar account, the
senator-judges dwelt again on the peso accounts, which were earlier discovered
to have multi-million deposits.
Asked by Drilon whether he knew how much was the initial deposit of Corona,
Garcia said he was not privy about it and that only the branch manager of
PSBank-Katipunan is knowledgeable about it.
With this, the impeachment court issued a subpoena to Katipunan branch
manager Anabelle Tiongson.
Testifying on Thursday, Garcia told the court he "volunteered" to appear in
court on behalf of Tiongson because he "saw the fear and concern" in her.
"She was very stressed about the circumstances because of the potential
liabilities of imprisonment if she would disclose... because the law is, as we
understand, is very clear, so I recognized this," Garcia said.
Estrada then asked Garcia if Tiongson was a "small lady," a reference to the
unidentified small lady who leaked copies of Corona's supposed bank records to
the Rep. Rey Umali of the prosecution camp. Garcia answered in the negative.
Questionable Accounts
Meanwhile, the prosecution camp said the discovery of nearly P20 million in
two peso accounts of the Chief Justice with the PSBank in 2010 alone is just the
tip of the iceberg and only underscores the need to open his dollar deposits by
the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court.
Spokespersons of the House of Representatives' prosecution panel made this
assessment as they tried to figure out how Corona, who was only worth P22.9
million in 2010, was able to acquire three condominium units with a combined
cost of P27.2 million and still maintained a P20-million bank deposit the same
year he accepted his appointment from former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
"We have only hit the tip of the iceberg. What we feel is that the balances
revealed in Wednesday's trial were random samples of the chief magistrate's
hidden stash," Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo said.
Deputy Speaker Erin Tañada said the "collective contents of the two bank
accounts were never reported" in Corona's sworn Statement of Assets, Liabilities
and Net Worth (SALN) for 2010.
"It reinforces our appeal that the foreign deposits of the impeached chief
justice be disclosed in the interest of truth and transparency," Tañada said.
In Wednesday's trial, Garcia revealed that Corona opened an account in 2009
that had an ending balance of P8.5 million as of Dec. 31 that same year. This
account ballooned to more than P12.5 million by the end of 2010.
Another account, opened only in 2010, had a balance of P7.148 million also by
the end of that year.
However, Corona only declared "cash and investments" worth P3.5 million in
his SALN for 2010.
"We are looking at a discrepancy of P16 million. In short, there is a
discrepancy of at least 600 or 700 percent in terms of under declaring actual
cash," Quimbo pointed out.
Aurora Rep. Sonny Angara noted that Corona's peso deposits had suddenly
swollen by P11 million in 2010, the same year he assumed the top post of the
Supreme Court.
Angara said it looks like Corona was awash with cash that year because he
still managed to keep a lot of money in the bank despite having bought the
controversial penthouse unit at the Bellagio Tower in The Fort, Taguig City.
"We must take note that the 2010 ending balance on his two accounts alone of
almost P20 million was posted after he had purchased the Bellagio property,"
Angara said.
He pointed out that nearly P20 million found in his two peso accounts with
PSBank was already the "net balance" of what he paid for the Bellagio property,
which he declared to be worth P6.8 million in his 2010 SALN but was actually
bought for P14.5 million based on the absolute deed of sale earlier presented by
the registrar of deeds before the impeachment tribunal.
Aside from the Bellagio property, Corona and his wife bought a unit at the
Bonifacio Ridge, also in Taguig City, for P9.1 million in 2004; and a unit at
The Columns in Makati City for P3.6 million in 2003.
However, the prosecution noted that Corona undervalued the three properties
by P16.9 million in his SALN and only declared these in his 2010 filing.
In his 2010 SALN, Corona declared the Bonifacio Ridge property only cost P2.3
million and The Columns P1.2 million. (With a report from
Rolly T. Carandang)
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/
