Enrile wary of issuing subpoenas to justices

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Tuesday served notice to the House prosecution that the impeachment court was not inclined to summon associate justices of the Supreme Court to testify at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

At the Supreme Court, a special en banc session will be held tomorrow to come up with a “unified” stand on whether the justices summoned by the impeachment court should make an appearance, and the issues they can discuss there, its spokesperson Midas Marquez said Tuesday at a press briefing.

Marquez said the high court had gotten hold of the list of justices that the prosecution wanted summoned to testify.

He said Corona would not take part in the full-court session over which Associate Justice Antonio Carpio would preside.

Enrile said the Senate would be cautious in issuing subpoenas to the justices, as it was in the case of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and other lawmakers, “out of respect for the equalness and separateness” of the three branches of government.

“I would take an abundance of caution in subpoenaing members of a coequal department of government,” Enrile said on Day 13 of Corona’s trial.

“While we’re interested in ferreting out the truth, punishing anyone haled [to] this court, no matter how high and powerful, we must see to it that in the process we will not destroy the government established by our forbears…” he said.

Senators’ caucus

Enrile said the prosecution’s request for subpoenas for members of the judiciary would be taken up at the senators’ caucus Wednesday.

“Some of these requests are going to tread on coequalness and separation of the three departments of government, and we have to study these requests very carefully…” he said.

Isabela Representative Giorgidi Aggabao, a prosecutor, earlier mentioned in the trial that the Senate had yet to act on pending requests for the issuance of subpoenas for Supreme Court Clerk of Court Enriqueta Vidal, among others.

Another prosecutor, Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares, said that the prosecution would request subpoenas for Associate Justice Lourdes Sereno and tribunal spokesperson Marquez, and that the defense was planning to summon Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco and Roberto Abad.

Not applicable

After hearing Enrile, Colmenares took the floor and argued that the principle of the independence of the three branches of government should not be applied in the case.

Colmenares said the Senate impeachment court had actually summoned a member of the executive branch in the person of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares, who testified on Corona’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.

But Enrile countered: “We’re still operating under one Constitution. None is more powerful than the other department.”

Colmenares stood his ground and said: “The issue here is accountability, and not separation of powers.”

In the end, Enrile directed Colmenares to submit a brief manifestation on the matter.

Privileged discussions

Marquez said the tribunal’s en banc session would be held “to tackle whether or not the justices should attend the [impeachment trial] if and when subpoenaed by the Senate impeachment court.”

“The court intends to have a stand on this … It goes to the very essence of separation of powers, of coequal branches of government…” he said.

Marquez said the tribunal would deliberate on what the summoned justices may or may not discuss at the impeachment trial because some of its deliberations were “privileged in nature.”

He said the justices discussed the matter during their regular en banc session yesterday morning but did not reach a resolution.

“They have to resume deliberations because some reflections, some views, are still being circulated. Some justices are submitting written views on the matter and these have to be consolidated and deliberated upon,” Marquez said, adding that the high court “did not want to wait until [the next en banc session on] Tuesday.”

“We all know the impeachment court issues subpoenas to require the witness to be present as soon as the following day, if not the same day,” he said. “If they wait for the subpoena, the [justices] may not have enough time to respond to the issue.”

Inhibition request

Marquez also said Carpio and Sereno had denied a request for their inhibition from deliberations on the petitions seeking to stop Corona’s impeachment trial.

Marquez said the request, formally filed by lawyers Homobono Adaza and Alan Paguia on Monday, had been dismissed for “lack of merit.”

The two lawyers said Carpio and Sereno should inhibit themselves because they had “interests” in the outcome of the pending petitions and “could not be impartial” in voting on the eventual ruling.

“Justices Carpio and Sereno could become the next chief justice if Chief Justice Corona is convicted. It is known in legal and media circles that Sereno is a favorite of President Aquino,” Adaza told reporters.

The lawyers noted that Carpio had long been considered as Corona’s “rival” for the post of Chief Justice even before then President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo chose Corona.