Prosecution team to ask impeach court to proceed with Corona trial

MANILA, Philippines – The prosecution team will ask the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, to proceed with the trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona  after his supposed “weak” answer to the charges lodged against him.

At exactly 10:17 a.m. on Tuesday, the House of Representatives, which filed the complaint against Corona, formally received a copy of Corona’s answer in which the prosecution team has a five-day non-extendible period to reply to.

But since the last day for submission will fall on a Sunday, the Senate impeachment court decided to move the deadline to Jan. 2, 2012.

“We will file our reply. The answer is weak and failed to argue against the jurisdiction of the Senate, so we will argue that the trial should proceed because the Senate has jurisdiction,” Bayan Muna Represenative Neri Colmenares said in a statement on Tuesday.

Colmenares, one of the lead prosecutors, also branded as “absurd” Corona’s claim that he could not be convicted merely because the decisions listed in the complaint were collegial.

While court decisions are collegial, the lawmaker pointed out that each Supreme Court Justice is required by the Constitution to be independent and impartial.

“Therefore any justice proven to be biased or partial in favor of a party to a case may be impeached even if the decision is collegial,” he pointed out.

Colmenares said the issue was whether the Chief Justice was biased in favor of former President and now Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo when the court immediately acted to stop the watchlist order against her.

“The fact that other justices may also be partial does not save an accused from being convicted for partiality and subservience to a favored party,” he further said.

Another Bayan Muna Representative, Teddy Casino, chided Corona for allegedly hiding behind technicalities.

“Do not hide behind technicalities!” Casino said in a separate statement.

“He aims to mislead the Senate into a protracted and useless exercise of trying to prove that 188 congressmen actually read the complaint and were not simply dictated upon by the Liberal party into signing the impeachment complaint.,” he said.

Casino said Corona should also stop hiding behind the cloak of collegiality “because it is a very weak defense.”

“The decisions and actions of the Supreme Court like that of Congress is based on collegiality but the issue here is the individual votes of all its members. Like the justices we congressmen are made to account for our individual stands on issues that are laid before us to act upon,” he said.

“It is our contention that Corona indeed voted with bias and partiality to the Arroyos when cases involving them are being heard in the Supreme Court,” he further said.