Prosecution likens TRO petition to Estrada’s ‘second envelop’

MANILA, Philippines—The prosecution team sees the efforts of the defense to prevent the opening of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona’s alleged bank accounts as similar to the infamous second envelope during the impeachment trial of former president Joseph Estrada.

“We see this effort of the defense to prevent the disclosure of the evidence as similar to the second envelope,” Marikina representative Romero Quimbo said in a press briefing Wednesday.

“What could be in there that they are so afraid of?” Quimbo said. “If Corona was not hiding anything and all his assets have been declared in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) truthfully, what is the reason why they won’t let it [proceed],” he said.

He added that it was alarming that they will go through the Supreme Court to stop the presentation of evidence unlike in the Estrada trial when it was the senator-judges who voted to not open the second envelope.

“What they are actually seeking is an acquittal, not by the impeachment court of the Senate but it is an acquittal by the issuance of a TRO,” Quimbo said.

He said that “they will go the their home court and once the Supreme Court issues a TRO in favor of the Chief Justice, then it’s like we disregarded all provisions regarding accountability [in the Constitution] particularly the provisions on impeachment.”

“If they do that, it would be like they already amended the Constitution,” Quimbo said.