MANILA, Philippines—Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares on Monday said he would ask the Senate to summon Supreme Court Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco to testify in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.
“I will ask the Senate to subpoena Justice Presbitero Velasco to shed light on the irregularities detailed in Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno’s dissent regarding the promulgation of a resolution Velasco issued on Nov. 28 explaining the Court decision on the temporary restraining order allowing President Gloria Arroyo to travel abroad,” Colmenares said.
Aside from Velasco, Colmenares said they would also ask the impeachment court to summon Clerk of Court Enriqueta Vidal.
Sereno, in a dissenting opinion, said the resolution issuing a TRO on the watchlist order was not “a fully accurate reflection of what took place” during the deliberation. She said Corona “corrected” the draft of the Nov. 18 resolution written by Velasco.
She further said that on Nov. 23, Vidal informed Associate Justice Antonio Carpio that Corona sent him handwritten corrections on the typewritten draft of Velasco’s resolution with the instruction that it be promulgated immediately. Carpio responded through a letter that the promulgation of Corona’s version of the resolution be stopped and that it should first be deliberated upon by the justices.
Corona’s version is to the effect that the Arroyo couple has complied with the conditions set by the Supreme Court and the TRO on the watchlist order are in full force and effect.
Velasco, meanwhile, said Sereno broke the high court’s confidentiality rule.
“The charge that Chief Justice Corona fundamentally altered the Court’s decision declaring the TRO effective even if the Court has just decided by a vote of 7-6 that the TRO conditions have not been substantially complied with, is serious and could be used as additional evidence to prove CJ Corona’s partiality to protect Gloria Arroyo and allow her one more chance to escape for abroad. While the Court decided that the TRO is not effective until its conditions are met, the Chief Justice through Justice Velasco declared the TRO effective. Article VII, which is already a strong case for impeachment, has suddenly become one of the strongest charges in the impeachment complaint,” Colmenares said.
Colmenares is the lead prosecutor of Article VII of the impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice for the “betrayal of public trust through his partiality in granting a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo in order to give them an opportunity to escape prosecution and to frustrate the ends of justice.”
“Considering that Justice Velasco did not contest the accuracy of Justice Sereno’s dissent but merely claimed that the supposed irregularities are “confidential” is certainly disturbing. I hope he will not persist in using confidentiality and “privileged communication” in the Senate as “secrecy” is certainly not a good way of convincing the people and the Senate of the innocence of the Chief Justice,” Colmenares added.
Corona is set to face the impeachment court next month.