Only Corona can clear up issues, say senator-judges

Chief Justice Renato Corona. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

Some senators expect Chief Justice Renato Corona, no less, to take the witness stand and explain his bank accounts when his impeachment trial resumes Monday.

Senator-judges Gregorio Honasan, Franklin Drilon and Jinggoy Estrada said only Corona could clear up the issue of his alleged nondeclaration of his peso and dollar accounts in his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), among other things.

“The Chief Justice is the only one who can respond to the issues and questions lingering in the minds not only of the senator-judges but the general public,” Honasan said in a phone interview.

“More than the senator-judges, he owes the Filipinos an explanation. We are only extensions of the will of the people,” he said.

But with Corona unsure of taking the stand, his lawyers said their defense would “rise and fall” on the documents and the testimonies of their witnesses.

As the trial heads to its possibly final four weeks, defense lawyer Tranquil Salvador on Friday ruled out testimonies by Corona or his wife Cristina. He said the prosecution had failed to establish an impeachable offense.

“They have not proven anything. Why do we need to present the Chief Justice?” Salvador said in an interview.

So far, there has been no decision on whether the Corona couple would take the witness stand, defense panel spokesperson Karen Jimeno said, but they would do so only if they felt it was necessary.

The defense is presenting at least 10 witnesses, including Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, from Monday until Congress adjourns on June 7.

The Ombudsman’s separate inquiry into Corona’s alleged disproportionate wealth, including dollar accounts amounting to $10 million, was another compelling reason the Chief Justice should take the stand, Drilon and Estrada said.

“The Chief Justice has stated a number of times that he’s willing to make public his dollar accounts in due time. He must take the witness stand in the impeachment court,” Drilon told reporters Friday.

Estrada said he would suggest or even move that the impeachment court invite Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to testify on the origins of the $10 million, whose existence Corona has flatly denied.

“The $10 million is not included in the charge. Some senators might want to know where it came from. I myself want to summon the Ombudsman to learn where she got the information,” Estrada said by phone.

Salvador said the defense witnesses and the documentary evidence would be sufficient to dispute the prosecution’s case and show that the charges against Corona were not impeachable.

“We will rise and fall by our evidence,” he said in an interview Friday. “The prosecution has not presented anything in terms of an impeachable offense. That’s why we’re just disputing what they have presented.”

Sen. Loren Legarda said it was “crucial” that Corona testify at his trial.

For Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, “It’s their prerogative not to present CJ Corona, but the discrepancies in his SALN will, therefore, remain unexplained.”

The move by Corona’s lawyers to recall De Lima to the witness stand to answer questions not previously asked by the defense was meant to further delay the proceedings, according to Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares, who filed on Saturday a motion to quash the subpoena on De Lima before the Senate impeachment court.

Colmenares said the defense lawyers’ claim that the presentation of De Lima for a second time was valid was not actually correct.

He said the defense might just be planning to ask the justice secretary about her defiance of the Supreme Court’s temporary restraining order on her department’s travel ban on Arroyo which had been exhaustively explained by the secretary. With a report from Cynthia D. Balana