Senate won't summon SC justices

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate impeachment court has denied the prosecution's motion to subpoena four Supreme Court (SC) justices and compel them to testify in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

"The court resolves to deny the request," the impeachment court's resolution said, citing Section 2, Rule 10 of the internal rules of the SC, which cites that "deliberations are confidential and shall not be disclosed to outside parties."

The resolution, signed by Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, also said that if the impeachment court grants the request of the prosecution, it would "do so without transgressing the basic principle of separation of powers..."

The prosecution asked the impeachment court to subpoena SC Associate Justices Martin Villarama, Maria Lourdes Sereno, Bienvenido Reyes and Presbitero Velasco Jr. and testify on the high court's deliberations on the case involving flight attendants and the Philippine Airlines on Oct. 4, 2011.

SC spokesman Midas Marquez said yesterday that the SC will hold a special full-court session at 2 p.m. today to decide on whether the Senate impeachment court can compel the justices to testify in the trial.

Marquez said the magistrates agreed on the urgency of the issue that “goes to the very essence of the separation of powers of coequal branches of the government and the matters that the justices can testify to.”

He said the SC justices would like to have a stand on the issue before the impeachment court issues subpoenas.

“They (justices) don’t want to wait for their next session next Tuesday because subpoenas might be issued right away,” he said.

Marquez said the justices had preliminary discussions yesterday but they want to deliberate again to consolidate their views.

“I don’t want to preempt the decision of the justices. Let’s just wait for the resolution,” he said when asked about the other possible actions of the SC.

Marquez said the justices acted on the issue after receiving from the Senate impeachment court a copy of the list of witnesses, including several SC justices, the prosecution plans to summon.

In other resolutions announced during the 14th day of the impeachment trial, the Senate also denied motions by Corona to defer the enforcement of the subpoena on his bank accounts.

The impeachment court also denied a similar petition by Senator-Judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago.-- Angelo L. Gutierrez