Defense witness to cousin on trial: Pray

Demetrio Vicente. INQUIRER file photo

MANILA, Philippines—Demetrio Vicente, the 70-year-old defense witness in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, had this advice to his second cousin as the Senate court drew closer to a verdict.

“There are people who believe him. He should just pray that they (Senator Judges) will believe him,” Vicente told the Inquirer when reached by phone on Friday.

“That’s all that can be done. He doesn’t control the judges,” said Vicente.

Vicente, tagged as a “caretaker” of an alleged Corona property in Marikina City, took the witness stand in March and testified that he bought the questioned 3,400-square meter property from the Chief Justice’s wife Cristina and her sister Miriam Roco in 1990.

He said he learned of the property through an agent and that he did not know Cristina was his second cousin’s wife.

Vicente said he paid P1.018 for the lot and built a house and bonsai garden from the ground up, but admitted that he has failed to transfer the lot to his name. He, however, said he has been paying real property tax for the lot for 22 years.

“You know, I trust him. He is no trouble. My Deed of Sale (for the Marikina property) is still with him. I know that he will not fool me,” Vicente said in Filipino.

Vicente said he last saw Corona before he testified at the Senate almost three months ago, when the chief magistrate and his lawyers went to his Marikina home to borrow the deed of the 1990 sale as part of defense evidence.

He has been following the trial through television though, and sat through Corona’s three-hour statement at the impeachment court.

“I think what he’s saying is the truth. He is not greedy,” said Vicente.

He said that even when they were growing up, Corona was never one to flaunt his wealth.

“He just kept on studying and studying. He was very diligent. Back then, when I still had money and bought a Mercedes Benz and other expensive cars, he was just focused on his studies,” said Vicente, a bonsai artist and former businessman who used to rent out heavy machinery in Quezon City.

Now devoted to tending to his collection of thousands of bonsais in his property, Vicente said he will follow the trial until the verdict, if time permits.