Prosecution ready to cross-examine Corona if he will testify

MANILA, Philippines – Lead prosecutor Representative Niel Tupas Jr. said on Wednesday that they were ready to cross-examine Chief Justice Renato Corona in case he would testify before the impeachment court.

“It’s their option to present. But should they present him, we are prepared to conduct a cross examination,” he told reporters in an ambush interview.

Asked what should be expected from the prosecution in this trial on Wednesday, Tupas said they would wait for the defense to finish its cross examination of their witness and ask for time before they would present their formal offer of documentary evidence.

“Mali yata ang mathematics ko kahapon [I think my mathematics was wrong yesterday]. Ang number of documentary of evidence, imbes na [instead of] 397 ay 247. Ito ang i-ooffer ng prosecution as evidence,” he said.

He said they wanted to submit the documentary evidence as soon as possible.

“Baka kasi hintayin ng defense yun bago mag present [The defense might wait for that before it makes its presentation]. We don’t want to prolong further yung [the] trial,” he added.

Asked what challenges they were expecting in their formal offer of evidence, Tupas said in Filipino, “First, we know that they want to suppress the evidence of PS Bank subject to the subpoena of the Senate issued Feb. 6, 2012. But we are very confident that the evidence of PS Bank would be admitted.”

“We don’t see how this won’t be admitted. If this won’t be admitted, there is still the BPI account . . . P12.5 million that isn’t in the SALN . . . the properties . . . McKinley Hill, La Vista . . . There is even undervaluation . . . A lot of evidence in Article 2 of the impeachment,” Tupas said.

“Our count is P84 million in cash was not declared in his SALN . . . This evidence is strong,” he said.