Defense rules out demand for Corona on witness stand

Chief Justice Renato Corona PHOTO BY RICHARD REYES

Senators itching to hear Chief Justice Renato Corona personally explain the purported deficiencies in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) may be in for a disappointment.

As calls for Corona to testify in his impeachment trial snowballed among senator-judges, a member of the defense panel on Thursday virtually shut the door to the possibility of the Chief Justice facing his accusers in his impeachment trial.

In an interview, defense counsel Jose Roy III said that the senators cannot compel the defense to call Corona to the witness stand.

“That is ridiculous. Why would we put the Chief Justice on (the stand)? It’s out of the question,” Roy told reporters. “It’s not necessary. (The prosecution) has yet to prove anything. There is nothing for him to respond to,” he argued.

He surmised that the move of some senators urging Corona to testify was intended to “simplify the waiver issue” over the top magistrate’s dollar accounts in the Philippine Savings Bank which he failed to include in his SALN.

“As a lawyer, putting your client on the stand is something you have to think very carefully about. No matter how we look at it, it’s not necessary. It’s really not necessary,” he said.

Wait for evidence

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, the impeachment court’s presiding officer, earlier said Corona would be in the best position to explain why he did not declare his banks accounts and certain properties in his SALN.

On Wednesday, Senators Francis Escudero, Teofisto Guingona III and Antonio Trillanes IV said in open court that they supported Enrile’s call for the Chief Justice to testify.

While he admitted that the scenario would be “ideal,” Roy said Corona appearing in the witness stand “is not something any one can demand.”

“That is a decision that has to be made clinically. There might be perceptions on their part that that is the only way. I disagree,” he said.  “Maybe after we have finalized the way we’re going to present our case and (the time) we actually do it, then they would be able to understand what we were saying.”

Roy expressed confidence that the defense panel would be able to satisfactorily explain questions over Corona’s SALN and his supposed numerous properties.

Asked if the defense was trying to avoid the possibility that Corona may be humiliated by some proadministration senators, Roy said: “All those things. In the analysis of things, there might be too many issues that we will have to consider.”

“The problem is that it seems that the trial has no bounds. Why will I allow (Corona) to be put on trial for his entire life? It doesn’t make sense if he would be attacked for something not covered by the impeachment,” he added.

But Tranquil Salvador III, one of the defense panel’s spokespersons, said Roy’s statement was not necessarily the position of the entire defense panel.

Team will decide

“Our colleague has a point. But as we have consistently stated, we continue to study and evaluate the need to present the Chief Justice,” Salvador said in a news briefing later Thursday.

“We’re not saying that we will not present him. We’re actually open to that possibility. We have our own opinion and view on this, but we are in a team, a panel. Our own position may not matter if the whole team make a decision,” he said.

Petty issue

Roy also hit back at Marikina Representative Romero Quimbo who called on Corona to take a leave of absence after a defense witness, Demetrio Vicente, was seen arriving and leaving the Senate on Tuesday in a vehicle owned by the Supreme Court. He said this was a  “petty issue,” likening it to a “mosquito being ignored.”

“How (much) are we quibbling about? You mean to tell me he (Quimbo) has never used his official car for (personal use)? It’s just too stupid, too ridiculous to bring up.”