Defense may ask Corona to take witness stand

Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato C. Corona. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

With no less than President Benigno Aquino III declaring the Chief Justice’s purported guilt and campaigning for his removal, is it finally time for Renato Corona to take the witness stand?

Defense counsel Tranquil Salvador III on Sunday said his camp was seriously considering this option in the face of what he called “relentless attacks” in public coming from prosecutors and the President himself.

“It’s an option on the table if we feel that it would be best for him to testify and explain everything,” the lawyer told the Philippine Daily Inquirer in a phone interview.

“We are not afraid to present him,” Salvador added, noting that Corona himself appeared at the opening of the impeachment trial on January 16.

Defense lawyers earlier asked the President to “relax,” saying Corona would “open” his bank deposits at the proper time “because he did not steal them.”

Lawyer Romulo Macalintal, who described himself as an “independent impeachment analyst,” yesterday said Corona would eventually have to appear in the trial to explain purported discrepancies in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN).

The Chief Justice also has an “obligation” to explain the matter of the expropriation of a Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc. (BGEI) property for P34 million in Manila in 2001.

The check was supposedly deposited in Corona’s Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank) accounts, even if the money belongs to his wife Cristina, who was described as “almost the sole owner” now of BGEI.

“He is the only one who has personal knowledge on the matter,” Macalintal told the Inquirer. “He cannot escape testifying. He has the obligation to testify on that issue and even on some matters.”

Salvador acknowledged that Corona would be “the best person to explain everything” if and when his camp decides that the Chief Justice should testify.

Last week, PSBank president Pascual Garcia III testified that Corona had closed three time deposit accounts—with combined opening balances of P32.6 million—on Dec. 12, 2011, the day the Chief Justice was impeached at the administration-controlled House of Representatives.

Corona’s camp earlier said the money was part of the P34-million payment for the BGEI expropriation Mrs. Corona “received in trust for the corporation.” The Chief Justice did not have to declare the deposits in his SALN supposedly because they were not his.

Macalintal said existing laws allowed Corona to make “corrections or adjustments” in his SALNs.

He said the Chief Justice could do so in his 2011 SALN, which is due in April. But he said Corona should not just deposit the document with the clerk of court of the Supreme Court.

“If I were him, I would release it to the public as soon as I give it to the clerk,” he said.