Corona urged to testify

Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona and Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile

With the prosecution resting its case, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile on Wednesday said Chief Justice Renato Corona’s best defense was to take the witness stand and personally rebut charges he fudged his asset declarations and showed bias in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

Before adjourning Day 25 of the trial, which will resume on March 12 for the defense presentation, the court gave the prosecution until Friday to submit a formal offer of documentary evidence and Corona’s lawyers five days to respond.

Enrile warned prosecutors against claiming that they had presented overwhelming evidence to convict Corona.

“You are putting this court in a very serious predicament because you already make pronouncements about the weight and the quantum of the evidence that you have presented for your side,” Enrile said.

“Please do not make sweeping statements outside that may befuddle or confuse the people or convince them that you’ve won already,” he said. “There’s no winner yet. Don’t be too sure.

The tribunal’s presiding officer agreed that it would be in Corona’s “best interest” to take the witness stand and testify, particularly on Articles 2 and 7 of the impeachment complaint.

“That’s my view,” Enrile said in Filipino in an ambush interview. “To me, he needs to explain only on two things, Article 2 and Article 7.”

Article 2 refers to Corona’s alleged failure to publicly disclose his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN). In the course of the trial, the prosecution noted alleged discrepancies between entries in his SALN and the actual value of his properties and peso bank accounts.

Article 7 alleges that Corona had favored Arroyo, now a Pampanga congresswoman, through the Supreme Court’s issuance of a Nov. 15, 2011, temporary restraining order (TRO) allowing her to seek medical treatment abroad while she was facing charges of electoral sabotage.

Enrile offered a theory on why the prosecution announced on Tuesday to drop five of its eight articles of impeachment for alleged betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

“They know that if they pursued (the rest of the articles), they could not secure the required votes to remove the respondent using those five articles that they removed … They didn’t want to waste their effort on these anymore,” he said in Filipino in a radio interview.

Prosecutors need to secure the vote of at least 16 senators in at least one article of impeachment to convict Corona.

“Psychologically, many interpretations could be drawn (from the prosecution move) because you make an allegation and then you withdraw it. That means that you have no evidence to prove it,” Enrile said in an ambush interview.

Best witness

House Minority Leader Danilo Suarez, a staunch Arroyo ally, said Corona had no choice but to testify.

“The truth has to be told from his own mouth,” Suarez said. “He has to face it all if he intends to win his case.”

Enrile said Corona would be the “best” person to answer questions raised on his bank accounts and the allegations contained in Associate Justice Lourdes Sereno’s dissenting opinion on the TRO.

Sereno had claimed that the TRO became “legally ineffective” when Arroyo’s camp failed to comply with one of the three conditions set by the Supreme Court, particularly the appointment of a legal representative.

But Justices Roberto Abad and Presbitero Velasco disputed Sereno’s contention in their respective opinions concurring with the majority ruling. The high tribunal ruled that “the TRO was not suspended even with the finding that there was no full compliance with the conditions of the TRO.”

On Wednesday, the chief prosecutor, Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr., announced Sereno would no longer be called to testify.

Utmost respect

Should Corona decide to appear in the impeachment court, Enrile said he would be treated with utmost respect.

“We cannot allow the highest magistrate of the Philippines to be treated rudely,” he said. “Every magistrate who decides to come here will be respected because they are magistrates of our country.”

But Marikina City Representative Romero Quimbo said the defense panel could not set boundaries in the questioning of Corona should he agree to testify.

“He can be asked about practically anything as far as the complaint is concerned,” Quimbo said.

In a separate interview, Senator Sergio Osmena III said that while Corona would be “the best person to explain the entries and the leaving out of certain items in his SALN,” Corona could also send his accountant to do the explaining.

Depends on necessity

A defense lawyer, Jose Roy III, said Corona was prepared to take the witness stand “if there’s a necessity.”

“He is a big boy. He is not worried about that,” Roy said. “After what he’s been through, we know very well that there’s very little … that he is afraid of.”

But Roy said Corona’s appearance would depend on the documents and testimonies which the Senate tribunal would accept as evidence against him.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said Corona had said that in due time he would explain his SALN.

“So, perhaps, it’s time,” Lacierda told reporters. “The only person we believe who could testify as to the substance of the SALN would be the Chief Justice.”

President Benigno Aquino III himself has said in public speeches that witnesses had revealed that Corona had P31.5 million in his bank accounts while his SALN showed only P3.5 million.

“In any school in the world, P3.5 million does not equal P31.5 million,” he said. With reports from Norman Bordadora, Marlon Ramos and Gil C. Cabacungan