Honasan to prosecution: Tell court your plans to avoid ‘unpleasant surprises’

MANILA, Philippines—Senator Gregorio “Gringo” Honasan on Thursday said the prosecution panel should inform the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, of its plans on which articles of impeachment would be presented and which would be withdrawn to avoid “unpleasant surprises.”

He told reporters during an interview at the Senate that although it is the prosecution team’s prerogative to trim down its articles of impeachment, “they have to present it to the court so that we can prepare to address this and weigh the evidence proffered and presented in court. Sabihin nila ang plano nila [at] huwag gulatin ang korte (They should tell us their plan so the court won’t be surprised).”
He also said that it would not matter if some articles would be withdrawn as “the court agreed when we formulated the rules that the eight articles of impeachment are interrelated. So procedurally, it doesn’t matter. What we don’t want to happen are unpleasant surprises that will impact our duties to weigh the evidence and the facts presented.”

Reacting on possible apprehension being felt by the House of Representatives on crafting other impeachment complaints, he said that it is the Senate’s duty to perform its constitutional mandate and hear impeachment complaints. “Nothing should stop it or delay it as long as we agree on the rules, especially what I mentioned as the ultimate rule which is the constitution, observing due process, subscribing to a constitutional principle, the presumption of innocence, applying the rules like probable cause, and making sure that the only trial that matters is the trial inside the court room.”

When asked what he thought of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima’s testimony made on Wednesday, Honasan said that it was too early to say whether it is hearsay as the defense spokespersons has earlier called it. “We will find out when the trial continues, of course from what we know about the rules of evidence and the rules of court, it must be based on personal knowledge.”
He explained that the senator-judges would have to discuss in a caucus whether Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, whose dissenting opinion was used by De Lima as a basis for her testimony, would be called to the impeachment proceedings.

Speaker Feliciano Belmonte on Monday bared that the prosecution panel may trim down the eight articles of impeachment down to three to abbreviate the trial. The prosecution has moved on to its presentation of Article 7, which accuses Chief Justice Renato Corona of betrayal of public trust, after presenting Articles 2 and 3.