Corona wants Belmonte, 4 other solons summoned

MANILA, Philippines—House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and five others have been asked by Supreme Court Chief Justice Corona’s camp to testify before the Senate impeachment trial on Monday.

Corona’s lawyer, Jose Roy, filed on Wednesday at the Senate a “request for the issuance of subpoena” requiring Belmonte, Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., chief of the prosecution team, Congressmen Jesus Crispin Remulla, Hermilando Mandanas and Tobias Tiangco, and House of Representatives Secretary-General Marilyn Barua-Yap to appear and testify on January 16 at 2 p.m.

The lawyer requested the six to give their “personal knowledge and statements regarding the circumstances that transpired on December 12, 2011, which led to the impeachment of Corona.

But Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile, who will sit as presiding officer in the impeachment trial, could not say whether the House members could be summoned by the Senate as an impeachment court.

Enrile cited the principle of “inter-parliamentary courtesy” between the chambers of Congress though it was not provided for under the impeachment rules.