Witness grilled over sealed Corona evidence

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MANILA, Philippines – A witness, whom the defense described as biased and involved in a “well-planned and orchestrated” effort to destroy Chief Justice Renato Corona, was grilled Wednesday by the Senate over a sealed envelope supposedly containing evidence against Corona that he personally delivered to the office of Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile.

“I felt insulted and offended and I’m ordering you to show cause why you should not be cited for contempt,” Enrile told Harvey Keh, the lead convenor of the group, “Kaya Natin ito” presented as “hostile” witness by the defense.

“You’re trying to influence this court,” he said.

And when Keh tried to express her “sincerest” apology, Enrile simply dismissed it, saying he has directed him to show cause.

Enrile himself informed the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, that Keh, along with a television reporter and crew, went to his office and gave him a sealed envelope purportedly containing documentary evidence against Corona.

Keh was one of those who filed a letter-complaint against Corona before the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with the alleged bank deposits and properties that the Chief Justice allegedly owned.

Keh claimed the envelope was left in his office at Loyola Heights in Quezon City and decided to give it to the Senate President thinking that it could be used in the ongoing trial of Corona.

He admitted he could neither verify nor authenticate the veracity of the documents.

An irate Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago stood up and berated the witness for again claiming that the documents came from an anonymous source.

“Every time there’s something that requires identification of the source, the prosecution says there is no source, it came anonymously,” Santiago said.

“Who is Mr. Anonymous? I want to ask the PNP [Philippine National Police] and the AFP [Armed Forces of the Philippines] to issue an arrest order against him,” said the senator.

“Why is there a proliferation of Mr. Anonymous in this archipelago. And you’re head of something that promotes good governance? That’s your idea of good governance..?” she went on.

The prosecution first cited an anonymous source, which later became a “small lady” when it submitted to the Senate a copy of bank documents allegedly in the name of Corona.

Senate Pro Tempore Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada called Keh a liar for denying that he wanted publicity that was why he brought a TV crew when he went to Enrile’s office.

On Estrada’s questioning, Keh also admitted that he called some reporters to tell about the documents.

“Are you up for publicity?” asked Estrada.

“Your honor, sa totoo lang po [in truth] if I wanted publicity , nagtawag na lang ako ng presscon [I could have called a presscon],” Keh answered.

“E ikaw nga ang nagtawag dun sa opisina [You were the one who called on the office] and then now you admitted that you’re trying to call reporters and you’re trying to offer these documents that you presented the Senate President – those authenticated and unverified documents. Singungaling ka ah [You’re a liar],” Estrada added.

“I’m very sorry po your honor,” said Keh.

Before his testimony, defense lawyer Dennis Manalo accused Keh as “being biased and involved” in a “well-planned and orchestrated” effort to destroy the Chief Justice.

“This witness is hostile to the respondent, Chief Justice Corona and for this purpose, we will prove that the witness, among others, initiated the complaint against Chief Justice Corona in the office of the Ombudsman alleging that said respondent owns real properties not declared in his SALN [statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth],” Manalo said.

“If the witness your honor is so declared as hostile, we will impeach this witness …by proving his bias and prejudice against Chief Justice Corona and his active involvement in a well-planned and orchestrated effort to destroy the reputation of Chief Justice Corona intended to unreasonably weaken the defense of Chief Justice in this proceeding and unduly sway and influence the decision of the honorable court,” he added.