Defense spokesperson Karen Jimeno. PHOTO BY MATIKAS SANTOS
MANILA, Philippines – Even the defense was surprised when Chief Justice Renato Corona walked out of the Senate session hall after his testimony without being discharged from the witness stand, one of his lawyers said Tuesday.
“Kahit kami po sa floor, gulat na gulat po kami [For those of us on the floor, we were also surprised],” said Karen Jimeno in describing their panel’s reaction to Corona’s leaving the Senate, acting as an impeachment court.
But Jimeno said that they later found out that he had headed for the clinic across the session hall and maintained that he “will be back at the trial. Babalik po siya [He will return].”
She said that the chief magistrate had been complaining of dizziness before the trial but still went on to testify.
Lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas apologized to the senator-judges, saying that Corona did not mean to disrespect the impeachment tribunal.
Jimeno said that they gave the chief justice “leeway sa mga sasabihin niya sa [in what he wanted to say in the] impeachment court.”