Defense lauds Farinas’ ‘spontaneous, honest disclosure’

MANILA, Philippines — Ilocos Norte Representative Rodolfo Farinas’ statement that the impeachment complaint filed by the prosecution against Chief Justice Renato Corona was “poorly crafted” was a good observation on the inadequacy of the evidence against Corona, a spokesman for the defense said Tuesday.

Lawyer Tranquil Salvador III said that the “spontaneous disclosure” proved Farinas’ honesty, adding “he could have just said that everything was in order but he was candid and honest enough [to say otherwise].”

Farinas was quick to clarify, however, that he did not mean that the verified complaint was defective when he said that it was “hindi ganoon kaganda (poorly crafted).”

But lawyer Karen Jimeno, another spokesperson for the defense, pointed out that if one representative did not have enough time to read the complaint, it was questionable whether other representatives had the same predicament.

Speaking on the defense panel’s filing of a motion to quash the subpoenas on the chief magistrate’s bank accounts, Salvador said that this was their next step and remedy to the alleged illegal acquisition of Corona’s PS Bank records that violated the Bank Secrecy law.