Niel Tupas Jr.
MANILA, Philippines—The testimony of the defense panel’s first witness had nothing to do with the articles 2, 3, and 7 of the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. said on Monday.
Navotas Representative Tobias Tiangco, testified on the alleged pressure that was used by allies of President Benigno Aquino III to get members of the House of Representatives to sign the impeachment complaint.
“It’s not even related to the articles that were dropped,” Tupas said.
The prosecution chose to rest their case after presenting evidence on three articles. The Senate ruled on Monday that no further evidence would be accepted on articles 1, 4, 5, 6, and 8, and that they would no longer render a decision on those articles.
Tupas reiterated that nothing new came out of Tiangco’s testimony because the issue of the validity of the verified impeachment complaint had already been decided upon with finality by the impeachment court.
Diverting public attention
The defense panel wants to have congressmen who are part of the prosecution team to testify “to divert the attention of the public,” said prosecution spokesman, Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo.
“Instead of the Chief Justice on trial, let’s put Congress on trial. That is the tactic of the defense. The Senate will not bite into that and we will object to that,” Quimbo said.
Quezon Representative Lorenzo Tañada, meanwhile, said that the defense should go straight ahead in presenting their witnesses on articles 2, 3, and 7.
Quimbo reiterated that the defense was just trying to “create a side show” by asking the congressmen to testify.
“In trial, if you have no evidence on defense, you drag the trial and put somebody else on the stand,” Quimbo said. “That’s what they’re doing.”