Tupas on disclosure of evidence: What’s wrong?

MANILA, Philippines—Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. defended his public disclosure of evidence against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, saying the people have the right to know the truth.

Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. Photo from congress.gov.ph

“Well it’s up to the senators but to us impeachment is primarily the power of the people and the people have the right to know,” Tupas, the chief prosecutor, said over the phone on Tuesday.

He was reacting to Senator Panfilo Lacson’s statement that he could be admonished by the Senate acting as an impeachment court when he presented in a press conference documents of a property in Taguig City allegedly owned by Corona.

“That’s the discretion of the senators but to us, we are not ordinary prosecutors, we are also members of the House of Representatives, and we’re representatives of the people,” he said.

“What I’m saying is that the paramount concern now is for the people to know. If you stop the prosecutors from talking to the public, I think it’s something that is not consonant with the principle of impeachment,” Tupas added.

Besides, he said, the prosecution team has yet to decide whether or not to use the evidence in the impeachment trial.

While Corona’s alleged questionable properties were part of the complaint, Tupas said the specific documents that he presented in the press conference were not included in the documents they submitted to the impeachment court.

“We may or we may not present that particular evidence to the Senate because we have gathered a lot of piece of evidence and we may or may not present this,” he pointed out.

Tupas said he only presented the documents to show to the people that they have a strong case against Corona.

“We are showing the facts. We are not discussing the merits of the case. I don’t think there’s a violation of the rules,” he said.

“To me, the rules should be liberally applied in an impeachment proceeding . The paramount concern is the right of the people,” the chief prosecutor stressed.