‘Mistrial’ not part of defense strategy, says spokesman

MANILA, Philippines – To have the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, declare the ongoing trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona a “mistrial” isn’t part of the strategy of the defense, a spokesman for the team said Wednesday.

Esguerra issued the statement in response to a question on whether the defense was planning to present a motion for a mistrial, having referred to it Tuesday.

“We don’t want a mistrial,” Esguerra said, adding this will be more “disadvantageous” to their client.

“We are trying to do what we need to do to help the process – that it ends well. We still believe in the process, otherwise we wouldn’t be here,” Esguerra said.

Esguerra said the problem was neither with Corona nor with the Senate but with the “drafting of the Articles of Impeachment”.

“The problem that was observed was the drafting of the articles of Impeachment. The problem is not with the Senate, much less with the respondent,” he said.

“For five weeks, it has been like this,” he said, referring to the irrelevance of the witnesses for Article 3.

“There is something really wrong with Article 3,” he said.