Enrile stands out; 2 sides can claim early victories

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile has been roundly praised for his handling of the first impeachment trial of a Chief Justice of the Philippines. This was the consensus gleaned by the Inquirer from talking to not a few people who closely monitored the trial the past week. Add to the admiring throng, the senator-judges themselves.

“The handling [of the trial] of Senator Enrile is superb,”Sen. Francis Escudero said, recalling how the Senate President managed to prevent the proceedings from degenerating into a quarrel over procedures and technicalities.

Although initially marred by procedural hitches, the first week of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona brought to the fore the real issues surrounding the administration-initiated drive to oust him.

With the receipt of subpoenaed evidence, the Senate impeachment court has shifted the focus from the personalities appearing before it to a formal hearing on at least one of the eight articles of impeachment lodged against Corona.

Both the defense and prosecution can claim early victories.

Both the defense and the prosecution expect to advance their respective positions in the continuation of the trial on Tuesday.

The onus of finding evidence to establish Corona’s alleged high crimes falls on the prosecution.

The prosecution knows that it is called upon to find the missing link between Corona’s SALNs and the deeds of sale covering the properties in Taguig, Marikina and Quezon Cities; the properties not declared in the SALNs, whether some of the other properties had been grossly undervalued in the declarations, and whether Corona has the legitimate capacity to purchase the properties.

The impeachment court spared Corona, his wife and their children from being made a public spectacle by allies of President Aquino with its rejection of the prosecution’s motion to summon the family to the witness stand.

Had the motion been granted, the prosecution could have grilled Corona himself and his family on the purchase of expensive properties in the enclaves of the rich in Metro Manila.

But the impeachment court also allowed the issuance of subpoenas on the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) of Corona covering the period from 1992 to 2011 and on deeds of sale of 45 properties purportedly belonging to him and his kin.

Undervalued assets

At the close of the trial on Thursday, the prosecution showed evidence to the senator-judges that Corona had undervalued his officially declared assets.

Based on the SALNs submitted to the Senate on Wednesday, the prosecution pointed out that Corona’s net worth was only P14 million in 2002 but jumped to P22 million in 2010, the year he was appointed Chief Justice by then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The sudden jump in Corona’s net worth proved that he had amassed ill-gotten wealth, the prosecution claimed.

The declared assets are a property in La Vista, Quezon City, (P3 million but bought for P16 million); a penthouse unit at The Bellagio in Taguig City (P6.8 million but acquired for P14.5 million); a unit in the Ridge, also in Taguig (P2.3 million but bought for P9 million); the Burgundy condo unit in Quezon City (P921,000 but acquired at P2.5 million); and a unit at The Columns in Makati City (P1.2 million but purchased for P3.5 million).

Satisfaction

Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., the lead prosecutor, was satisfied with the way things turned out in the first week of the trial.

“We got the 2003-2010 SALNs from the Supreme Court clerk of court. We presented the 1992-2002 SALNs and the various properties of Chief Justice Corona and family. We were able to accomplish in the first week the things we had to despite the clear dilatory tactics used by the defense,” Tupas said in a phone interview.

The defense, on the other hand, established that the Chief Justice had been filing his SALNs.

It said this would belie the charge in Article 2 of the impeachment complaint alleging that Corona violated the Constitution and betrayed public trust “when he failed to disclose to the public” his SALNs.

At a news briefing, Corona’s lawyers claimed that the presentation of evidence and witnesses did not punch holes in his defense because Article 2 did not allege his accumulation of ill-gotten wealth but only the supposed nondisclosure of his SALNs.

Head defense lawyer Serafin Cuevas claimed that the disclosure of Corona’s SALNs was enough proof that the Chief Justice had been regularly filing the documents.

Too early to tell

“We are looking forward to the succeeding weeks as we continue to tell the story of how the Chief Justice betrayed public trust and as we present more damaging pieces of evidence,” Tupas said.

Escudero said he expected a faster trial in the coming week.

“It could be faster, but I guess we need to allow the parties and counsel to ‘warm up’ a bit to the proceedings. I expect it to be faster next week without the usual hiccups we saw this past week,” he said.

Aurora Rep. Juan Edgardo Angara, a prosecution spokesperson, refused to gauge the performance of the defense and prosecution at this point.

“It’s too early to tell at this stage, but so far there has been fair progress in presenting our case against the CJ (Chief Justice). The gains have been the presentation to date of documents to support our claim that the CJ has betrayed public trust by failing to disclose his SALNs and by amassing ill-gotten wealth,” he said.

Angara said he expected the introduction by the prosecution of more deeds of sale covering the rest of the 45 properties next week.