Vizconde gets support of Arroyo lawyer

Attorney Ferdinand Topacio INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Not only politics, but also the legal profession, makes strange bedfellows.

Lawyer Ferdinand Topacio on Tuesday supported his client Lauro Vizconde’s decision to testify at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Topacio is one of the lawyers of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who was barred from traveling abroad in November last year by the Department of Justice despite an order of the Supreme Court. The lifting of the travel restriction against Arroyo, who is facing charges of electoral sabotage and is under hospital arrest, is the subject of one of the impeachment articles against Corona.

Not by partisanship

“I respect his decision and will fully support him in any way as legal counsel and as friend. [His] decision was arrived at by him after lengthy and deep reflection, and without any intervention on my part, or of anyone else. His resolve to testify is borne not by partisanship, but by his abiding desire to institute reforms in the judiciary, so that his unfortunate experience regarding the trial involving the death of his entire family may not be experienced by others,” Topacio said in a statement.

Vizconde claimed he and Corona met days before the release of the Supreme Court decision that acquitted the seven convicted murderers of his wife and two daughters. House prosecutors listed the Corona-Vizconde meeting as among the offenses Corona allegedly committed under Article 3 of the impeachment complaint against the Chief Justice.

Toward genuine reforms

“It is our hope that his testimony will transcend the duration and purpose of the impeachment proceedings, and will result in measures and acts from all branches of government to institute genuine reforms in our courts to obliterate all forms of influence-peddling on the part of legal practitioners, especially certain big law firms, and promote more honesty, integrity and transparency in the courts, as well as encourage appointments and promotions in the judiciary based on merit and fitness, and not political patronage,” he said.

“We hope that those whom Mr. Vizconde names as purveyors of extra-legal persuasions be likewise investigated and called to account for their misdeeds, so that the impeachment proceedings may reinforce, rather than erode, the judicial system,” Topacio added.