Corona ‘open’ to idea of testifying in trial—defense

MANILA, Philippines – Chief Justice Renato Corona is “open” to the idea of testifying at his own impeachment trial, after all, one of his defense lawyers said.

“Personally, he’s open to testifying but he always has to submit to the decision of his counsel,” spokesman Tranquil Salvador III said in a telephone interview. “If it were only his decision, he’d testify but he’s subject to his counsel’s decisions.”

The defense is expected to attack the “defective” Articles of Impeachment when they present their evidence Monday at the resumption of Corona’s impeachment trial.

Salvador said the defense was “strongly considering him to testify if there was a need for him to testify,” but this need would be continuously evaluated by defense lawyers during the trial.

Chief defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said he was against Corona taking the witness stand after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said that this was the chief justice’s best defense. But Cuevas later said that Corona’s taking the witness stand would depend on “necessity.”

On the defense’s presentation on Monday, Salvador said:  “We’ll start off with our affirmative defense pertaining to the defective nature of the complaint. What does it constitute and did the signatories understand it? Was this properly sworn to and actually verified?’’

And for this, the defense is presenting one or two witnesses, who have personal knowledge about the manner by which the articles were prepared before they were transmitted to the Senate for trial last December, Salvador said.

“We’re talking about a surprise witness,’’ he said when asked if the first witness was a member of the House of Representatives.  He declined to identify the witness.

Cuevas had indicated that Corona’s wife, Cristina, and six congressmen, including Hermilando Mandanas, Tobias Tiangco and Crispin Remulla, would be their first witnesses.

According to Salvador, Cristina would testify on Article 2, which deals with Corona’s non-disclosure and the accuracy of his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth.

Prosecution spokesman, Marikina Representative Federico Romero Quimbo, said that instead of diverting attention, the defense should put Corona  on the witness stand “if at all they want to have a chance of putting up a credible defense.”

“All their attempts to bring back the issue on the validity of the impeachment complaint are a diversionary tactic to put attention on the members of Congress, instead of the CJ. They will use the Senate impeachment court as the venue to put Congress on trial. That cannot be allowed,” he said in a text message.