Defense complains prosecution ‘lost’ its document
Lead counsel Serafin Cuevas
Who’s got the documents?
Day 29 of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona on Wednesday began with lead defense counsel, Serafin Cuevas, complaining that a document borrowed by private prosecutor Jose Justiniano the other day was missing.
The documents were Cristina Corona’s handwritten letter acknowledging receipt of transfer of certificate titles covering seven parcels of land in Marikina City that she sold to Demetrio Vicente in 1990 for P500,000, and a deed of sale between Vicente and Miriam Roco.
“It was borrowed by lawyer Jose Justiniano. After the trial, the said document has been missing, and has not been returned. We tried to have a talk with Attorney Justiniano but there was no satisfactory explanation,” Cuevas said at the start of the hearing.
Justiniano confirmed borrowing a “bunch of documents” from the defense panel in Tuesday’s hearing, but he said he did not notice that this included the “receipt.”
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He asked for time for the prosecution to locate the document.
Noting that this has “ethical implications,” the presiding officer of the trial, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, ordered the prosecution to immediately “look for the document.”
After three hours of hearing, the prosecution could not produce the documents. The prosecutors said the documents could have been placed in one of their cars and asked the driver to bring the car to the Senate. On Senator Franklin Drilon’s manifestation, both prosecution and defense agreed to confer with one another on how to find the documents.
Vicente, 70, a relative of Corona, testified on Tuesday that he purchased the seven parcels of land in Marikina City with a total land area of 1,700 square meters for P509,900 in 1990 from Cristina. He also said he purchased another 1,700 sqm from Cristina’s sister Miriam Roco.
Under cross-examination, Vicente confirmed that the properties were still in Cristina’s name, and so was the tax declaration. He said he had no more money to pay for the transfer of titles. He has been paying real property taxes in Cristina’s name since 1990.
The prosecution produced a certification from a Makati City court showing that the deed of absolute sale between Cristina and Vicente was notarized by an “unlicensed” notary public in 1990. Vicente confirmed that Corona stood as one of the witnesses.
Vicente was the defense witness for the second impeachment article, which accuses Corona of failing to disclose his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), and failing to disclose his assets in the SALN.
