Defense elated over survey results, says public critical of trial

MANILA, Philippines – The defense team of Chief Justice Corona expressed satisfaction over a recent INQUIRER.net survey which showed that majority of the respondents think that the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, won’t convict their client.

Lawyer Karen Jimeno, defense spokesperson, said they were happy about the results and that the public wasn’t being swayed by propaganda.

Jimeno said this reaction proved that people were being critical about the trial and reiterated that the Chief Justice did not do anything wrong.

“And so the people are watching . . . They are intelligent, thinking for themselves,” said Jimeno in Filipino.

“It is clear that CJ Corona annually disclosed his assets, liabilities and net worth in his SALN (statement of assets and liabilities) and submitted the same to the Clerk of Court as required by law,” said Jimeno.

Defense lawyer Tranquil Salvador echoed Jimeno’s statements: “That’s a positive note kasi sa tatlong linggo, kami yung tumatanggap ng  [because in the last three weeks, we were getting the] negative na observations.”

However, Salvador also acknowledged that the public’s observation was prone to change.

In the just concluded informal survey by INQUIRER.net which asked whether “the Senate will convict Chief Justice Renato Corona?” 10,057 of 15,510 or 64.84% voted “No” while 5,453 or 35.16% said “Yes”.

Originally posted at 02:37 pm | Monday, February 06,  2012