MANILA, Philippines (May 16, 2012) - The much awaited personal appearance of Chief Justice Renato Corona before his impeachment trial comes in a matter of days as lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas assured today presiding Senator-Judge Juan Ponce Enrile that Corona will take the witness stand Tuesday day next week when the proceedings resume.
"It is logical that with no other witnesses to present, respondent himself will take the witness stand," Cuevas told the impeachment court.
Meanwhile, the Senate court will allow one hour for the two speakers from both the defense and prosecution panels to make their closing statements to summarize their cases.
The impeachment court also allowed a two-day break of the impeachment proceedings to give the defense panel time to look over the Anti-Money Laundering Council report presented by Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales regarding the alleged dollar accounts of the chief justice.
Earlier, Emmanuel Santos, another complainant before the Office of the Ombudsman, testified before the impeachment court on Wednesday that he based his complaint to news paper clippings and the talk he heard from "barbershop philosophers."
"As an academician...I felt intectual integrity compelled me, led me to file this complaint before the Ombudsman...and because a lot of people in the barbershops, coffeeshops are talking about this. It does not tally," Santos, who was presented also as a hostile witness, told the impeachment court.
Upon prodding of defense lawyer Jose Roy III, Santos admitted he has no direct or personal knowledge of Corona's dollar accounts.
"I want to highlight the fact that the Chief Justice's bank deposit is grossly disproportionate with his salary basing on newpaper reports...This complaint is meant to trigger the investigation of the Ombudsman on the Chief Justice," Santos said.
He also said the closure of his business school in Makati City by the Commission on Higher Education has nothing to do with the filing of the complaint.
"Hilarious"
The defense panel described as “hilarious” the prosecution’s statement that Corona may be charged with plunder owing to the movement of funds in his alleged dollar accounts as stated by the Ombudsman.
Corona’s lawyers said the AMLC report on the Chief Justice’s alleged 82 dollar accounts is not credible.
“Can these documents from AMLC be a source of valid information? To us we can’t take these hook line and sinker,” defense panel spokesperson Rico Quicho said.
“These (documents) are not authenticated, not verified and not studied. Because these are not studied, we need not use them immediately. Perhaps we should examine them before using them,” he added.
Quicho said the prosecution had talked about the filing of a plunder case even if no criminal investigation may be conducted during the tenure of impeachable officers like the Chief Justice.
“When will they file it (plunder case)? Will they file this now? If they file it now, katawa-tawa iyan (that’s hilarious). Now, after filing and this has been acted by the Ombudsman and the Department of Justice, it becomes more hilarious,” he added.
“He (Corona) is being tried before an impeachment court. Perhaps it is reasonable to finish this first before (filing) a new case or (conducting) another investigation,” Quicho said.
The defense panel maintained that the prosecution has no basis in saying that Corona is liable for plunder.
“Perhaps they should think first before speaking,” Quicho said.
Tranquil Salvador III, another spokesperson of the defense panel, said the prosecution’s statement is expected.
“Nothing is surprising about their actions. We’re not saying they should do it (file plunder case). If they are going to do that, maybe we will not be surprised. But perhaps you should just wait for the Chief Justice to take the witness stand,” he said.
On Tuesday, prosecution spokesperson Quezon Rep. Erin Tañada said the movement of funds in Corona’s alleged dollar accounts was proof of money laundering and may hold the magistrate liable for plunder.
“Outside of the impeachment case, if there’s going to be a case for plunder and graft, then the Ombudsman may take such initiative after the impeachment proceedings,” Tañada said.
Tañada added that the Ombudsman’s testimony had reaffirmed the prosecution’s argument that Corona had failed to declare certain assets in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).
On Monday, Morales, citing an AMLC report, told the impeachment court that Corona kept 82 dollar accounts in five banks between 2003 and 2011, and made more than 400 transactions during that period.
She said the Chief Justice also had several peso accounts, from which he moved funds amounting to more than P200 million. (From Philstar.com)