Senators dismayed over ‘wasted time’ on defense witnesses

The defense team. Richard A. Reyes/INQUIRER PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – They were not only disappointed but senators also felt they wasted time listening to the witnesses presented by the defense at Monday’s resumption of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

“To tell you the truth, we are quite disappointed that the witnesses you brought this afternoon–the people who are testifying about the collection of fees, what does this got to do with the impeachment?” asked Enrile.

“We feel a little disappointed. Now don’t tell us and lecture us about due process. We’re equally aware of our obligation to extend due process to anyone coming before this court,” he added.

Before this, Enrile questioned the relevance of the testimonies of two of five witnesses presented by the defense team during Monday’s trial.

Annalyn Moises, records officer of the City of Manila, and Efleda Castro market administrator in the city were supposed to testify for the defense team in connection with the sale of a P14 million property of the Basa-Guidote Enterprise Inc (BGEI), owned by the family of Corona’s wife, Cristina.

Moises was supposed to authenticate some documents while Castro was supposed to testify on the transfer, turnover of the property from BGEI to the Manla government.

The defense team said they were offering the testimonies of the witnesses to answer the questions of the prosecution team regarding some documents pertaining to the transaction.

“If there’s a defect in the sale, it’s impertinent, immaterial, irrelevant in this proceedings,” Enrile said when the defense team called Moises to the witness stand.

The Senate leader raised the same question when Castro was also called to the witness stand.

“What I’m trying to avoid is that we’re cluttering this proceeding with so many collateral, irrelevant and immaterial issues . We’re wasting time,” Enrile added.

The Senate suspended for a few minutes to allow the defense team to prepare its witness. But when the trial resumed, Corona’s lawyers asked that they be allowed to present their witnesses in the next hearing.

At that point, Senate Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada stood up and also expressed his disgust on defense witnesses.

“Instead of cluttering this court with witnesses who are impertinent , immaterial and irrelevant to the proceedings, I suggest that you bring the respondent himself to answer all the allegations leveled against him,” Estrada said.

“And if the Chief Justice will appear, the judges, the impeachment court will be very, very happy to hear his side,” he said.

Estrada said the Senate could immediately render its judgment on the impeachment case of Corona if the respondent himself would testify in the trial.

“You’re just wasting the time of this court Mr. Counsel,” he said.

“Thank you for that admonition. But this is an impeachment proceeding, and notwithstanding the character of the proceeding, due process should still be observed,” said Corona’s chief defense counsel, former Supreme Court Justice Serafin Cuevas.

“He’s the Chief Justice of the country your honor and out of respect , we should have at least give hims some consideration…” Cuevas said.

“We cant be bulldozed into presenting this witness because you like him to testify. That’s not the order of trial, that’s not the demand of justice your honor,” he added.

But Enrile protested Cuevas’ remark, saying “You can’t say were not giving you due process. You have all the time during the recess to study the defense of our client.”

“I will be frank with you, if you think that there’s no case presented here in this court, then that’s your problem. We are all lawyers. We respect your skills and your ability to appreciate evidence but we equally expect you to respect our ability to appreciate the evidence presented to us,” Enrile added.