Defense opposes bid for PAL execs to testify vs Corona

Retired Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas, Corona’s lead legal counsel

So what’s wrong with the Chief Justice owning a privilege card from the country’s flag carrier?

The defense panel on Thursday moved for the denial of the prosecutors’ motion to summon officials of Philippine Airlines (PAL) to testify on the “platinum cards” that the Lucio Tan-owned airline supposedly granted to impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona and his wife.

Calling it a “travesty” and a “constitutional infirmity,” Corona’s lawyers told the Senate impeachment court that the matter regarding the PAL platinum cards which the Chief Justice and his wife, Cristina, allegedly owned were not related to the third of the eight articles of impeachment.

Article 3 alleges that Corona betrayed the public trust for “allowing” the Supreme Court’s flip-flopping in several cases deemed final and executory, among them the labor case filed by members of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap) against PAL.

“From the foregoing, it is clear that the request is nothing but another attempt to adduce irrelevant and immaterial evidence… in the continuing efforts of the (prosecution) to fish for evidence,” the defense said.

It added: “(This is) in violation of the constitutional right to due process (of Corona), in a desperate scramble (of the prosecution) to chance upon some information that may be linked to any violation of law or ethics.”

The House of Representatives’ prosecution panel also asked PAL to bring all documents related to its cases against Fasap, the letter of the airline’s lawyer, Estelito Mendoza, to the Supreme Court in connection with the case, and the minutes of the en banc session of the high court.