MANILA, Philippines–Malacanang on Tuesday accused Chief Justice Renato Corona’s defense lawyers of trying to “muddle the truth and bog down the proceedings” a day after the Senate impeachment court started hearing the complaints against the magistrate on Monday.
Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO
“This early, we have seen the legalistic manner by which the defense hopes to muddle the truth and bog down the proceedings,” said Secretary Edwin Lacierda, President Aquino’s spokesperson, during the Tuesday news briefing in Malacanang.
“This is merely a demonstration of how the entire apparatus of control of the Arroyos and their allies is falling apart, increasingly unable to stonewall in order to hinder the quest for the truth,” he added.
Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas and lawyer Eduardo Delos Angeles argued for Corona during the first day of the impeachment trial.
Cuevas argued for Corona’s position that the impeachment court should conduct a pre-trial to determine the validity of the House of Representatives’ transmittal of the impeachment complaint to the Senate, saying the entire proceedings would be a nullity if the endorsement wasn’t according to law.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile struck down this motion from the defense.
“Having politicized the judiciary to an unprecedented level, the calling to account of the Chief Justice presents the prospect of the judiciary finally being liberated from the chains of political indebtedness and partisanship,” Lacierda said.
“The public has expressed every confidence in the Senate going about its duties in impeachment with fairness, undeterred and not fooled by the conspiracy theories and cheap propaganda of the Chief Justice,” he added.