Lapid breaks silence

MANILA, Philippines - The normally unflappable presiding officer of the impeachment court, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, was momentarily dumbfounded yesterday.

The cause: Senator-judge Lito Lapid wanted to be recognized, according to Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto.

Enrile quickly regained his composure and called on “the gentleman from Pampanga” to go ahead and speak.

Lapid, chided by critics for his lackluster performance as a legislator, said as he approached the podium, “O ba’t nagtatawanan na naman kayo (Why are you laughing again)?”

The senator-judge’s questioning of Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali came on the 10th day of the trial and yesterday’s proceedings were getting to be more tedious and boring with Benito Cataran, company registration and monitoring department director of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the witness stand.

Umali was trying to prove that Corona somehow obtained ill-gotten wealth through the Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc., owned by his wife’s family, in 2003, the year he got an P11-million loan from the firm.

Lapid’s first question was, “Ano ang pagkakaiba ng cash advance, sa loan, sa utang (What is the difference between a cash advance, a loan and a debt)?”

Enrile asked Lapid, “Who are you asking?”

Lapid, a high-school graduate, said the question was addressed to the prosecutor.

Umali answered that Corona and his wife were not shareholders of Basa-Guidote Enterprises Inc.

The prosecutor-lawyer also explained the license of the company, owned by the family of Cristina Corona, had been revoked and was not operational since 1991.

“There should be board approval, resolution (before making cash advance),” Umali said in Filipino.

Lapid then reacted, “Kanina pa kayo tanong ng tanong, yan lang gusto nyo malaman? Kung yung P11-million cash advance, inutang o loan (You keep asking questions and yet that’s all you wanted to know, whether it was a loan or cash advance).”

Umali justified that there was no record of Corona’s P11-million cash advance in the SEC and the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

“This is what we are establishing, that this is an unexplained wealth,” he said.

Retired justice Serafin Cuevas, head of the defense panel, immediately stood up and said the impeachment court has ruled that the prosecution could not present evidence on Corona’s alleged ill-gotten wealth.

However, Umali was quick to correct his statement that they want to establish the non-disclosure of the P11-million cash advance of Corona.

Enrile then warned the counsels to respect the ruling of the court, “We have already ruled that paragraph 2.4 is not permissible to receive any proof, so kindly adhere to the rules of this court. So ordered.”

A crowd favorite both in and outside the impeachment court, Lapid’s brief stint at the podium became one of the hottest trending topics in the social networking site Twitter, as “Leon Guerrero” (the senator’s movie character) and “Sen. Lapid” placed third and sixth in the worldwide ranking.