MANILA, Philippines – Justice Secretary Leila De Lima is set to testify today, Wednesday, on the 22nd day of impeachment trial against Chief Justice Renato Corona.
She will testify on allegations that Corona betrayed public trust through alleged partiality in granting a temporary restraining order on the travel restrictions imposed by the Department of Justice against former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and husband Jose Miguel Arroyo.
De Lima has been directed to produce, aside from court pleadings, immigration records on the entry and exit of Corona in October and November 2011, a surveillance camera video of the Padre Faura entrance of the DOJ building on Nov. 15, 2011, and the record of the denial of the Arroyos’ request to be allowed to leave through the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on the same day.
Through the subpoena, the prosecutors want to prove, among others, that Gloria Arroyo intended to travel abroad for reasons other than health, that the TRO was attempted to be served to the DOJ on Nov. 15, 2011, that the Arroyos tried to escape the country on the same day, that they made multiple travel bookings on the same day and that Corona “hastily” returned to the Philippines on Nov. 10, 2011.
Deputy Speaker Raul Daza will conduct the direct examination.