Enrile stops defense witnesses testimonies, questions relevance

Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile . JUNNY ROY / SENATE POOL

MANILA, Philippines — Two witnesses of the defense team on Monday failed to take the stand at the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona after Senate President and presiding officer Juan Ponce-Enrile questioned the relevance of their testimonies.

Annalyn Moises, records officer of the City of Manila, and Efleda Castro marker administrator in the city were supposed to testify for the defense team in connection with the sale of a P14 million property of the Basa-Guidote Enterprise Inc (BGEI), owned by the family of Corona’s wife, Cristina.

The defense team said Moises would authenticate certain documents while Castro would testify on the transfer, turnover of the property from BGEI to the Manla government.

Corona’s lawyers said they were offering the testimonies of the witnesses to answer the questions of the prosecution team regarding some documents pertaining to the transaction.

“If there’s a defect in the sale, it’s impertinent, immaterial, irrelevant in this proceedings,” Enrile said when the defense team offered the testimony of Moises.

Corona’s lawyers then proceeded to call Castro but Enrile aired the same statement after hearing the purpose of the witness’ testimony.

“Whats the materiality of this kind of evidence in this impeachment trial?” the presiding officer asked.

And when the defense lawyer pointed to the questions raised by the prosecutors regarding the transfer of ownership of the property, Enrile said, “That’s immaterial to this court whether the property was transferred or not. There was a transaction whether that’s void… There is transaction, money passed from the city of Manila to Mrs. Cristina Corona.”

“What I’m trying to avoid is that we’re cluttering this proceeding with so many collateral, irrelevant and immaterial issues . We’re wasting time,” Enrile added.