Prosecution determined on inviting Justice Sereno to testify against Corona

MANILA, Philippines—Prosecutors at the trial of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona said on Monday they would invite Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to appear before the Senate impeachment court.

“We will invite Justice Sereno,” Representative Miro Quimbo, spokesman for the prosecution team, told reporters during a press briefing at the Senate on Day 24 of the impeachment trial.

Quimbo, however, expressed their concern over the February 14 resolution of the Supreme Court that barred its justices and workers from testifying at the impeachment trial.

He said that the resolution barred Sereno from testifying without the consent of the high tribunal. Quimbo said the best way for Sereno, who is President Aquino’s first appointee at the high court, to appear at the witness stand was for the Senate to issue a subpoena, which he said would shield her from possible repercussions arising from her action.

But Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Monday told the prosecutors to seek out Sereno and ask her to be their witness, to which Quimbo maintained that they were “not giving up now, knowing fully well they (senators) will not issue a formal invitation.”

Prosecutor Bayan Muna Representative Neri Colmenares admitted that their members had long been debating on whether to approach officials from the Supreme Court to testify in the trial. He said that they decided against it after a long debate since they considered the high tribunal to be a “hostile environment.”

He added that they were not expecting the Senate decision against issuing a subpoena on Sereno. “Nagulantang kami ’don (We were taken aback).”

If Sereno does testify at the impeachment trial, “it will be voluntary (on her part),” said Quimbo, since the Senate has decided that it would not issue a subpoena which would compel a person to testify.