Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte. INQUIRER
Commenting on an INQUIRER.net poll which showed that a majority of readers thought Chief Justice Renato Corona would not be convicted by the Senate, Malacañang said it was still too early to tell how his impeachment trial would turn out.
Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Sunday the prosecution had not even wrapped up the first of eight articles of impeachment against Corona.
“We will still hear and watch a lot of this impeachment trial,” Valte said on government radio dzRB.
An informal, nonscientific poll by INQUIRER.net showed (as of Sunday) 64.9 percent of 15,594 readers answering “No” to the question “Do you think the Senate will convict Chief Justice Renato Corona?” Only 35.1 percent answered “Yes.” (https://www.inquirer.net/corona-impeachment-trial)
Told about INQUIRER.net’s poll, Valte said the Palace would defer any comment.
“We still don’t know what will happen in the next chapter,” she said. For one, she added, the prosecution had a pending subpoena for the opening of bank accounts owned by Corona and his wife.
Valte said the prosecution wanted to know the cash position of the Coronas so it could be “juxtaposed” on what was declared in the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of Corona.
Asked whether the Palace was still confident Corona would be convicted, Valte did not answer the question directly, saying only that the important thing was that the evidence was presented.
“At this point, it’s somewhat premature (to say Corona will be acquitted) because so far we are seeing that slowly the case is coming out…we still have a long way to go,” Valte said.
Valte also declined to respond to former Senator Francisco Tatad’s statement that President Benigno Aquino III would end up being a “lame duck president” should Corona be acquitted by the Senate.
“At this point, those are just speculations. We are only on Article 2 and there are seven articles still remaining,” she said.
The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, has so far held 11 hearing days on the case against Corona, with the prosecution set to wind up this week the first of the eight articles of impeachment filed by the House of Representatives against the Chief Justice.
Originally posted: 7:30 pm | Sunday, February 5th, 2012