CJ lawyers urge Sereno to maintain confidentiality of SC rulings

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona urged yesterday Supreme Court (SC) Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to maintain the confidentiality of the high court’s rulings should she decide to testify in the impeachment trial.

Defense panel spokesman Karen Jimeno said Sereno should not violate Rule 10 Section 2 of the Internal Rules of the SC which states the confidentiality of court sessions.

House prosecutors want Sereno to appear in court to shed light on her first-hand knowledge of the circumstances behind the high court’s temporary restraining order (TRO) allowing former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to leave the country on Nov. 15, 2011, which the executive branch defied.

Malacañang, for its part, expressed hope yesterday Sereno would testify voluntarily at the Senate.

“Let me lay out the perspective first. First of all, the Senate will not subpoena – that’s very clear. Secondly, we don’t know if Justice Sereno will voluntarily testify in the Senate impeachment court. But as to the fears it will open up (confidential matters), it will not because… this is not something that is publicly known – but there are a number of cases in the Supreme Court where the internal deliberations are also discussed and fleshed out,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

Lacierda said the testimony of Sereno would be welcome because she would testify as to what she wrote in her dissenting opinion.

“Certainly, it is part of the whole process – bringing out the truth in that particular decision on the TRO. Obviously there (have) been some statements, written statements issued by Justice Sereno in her dissenting opinion which would show the unilateral action of Chief Justice Corona and that should be brought to light in terms and by way of testimony,” Lacierda said.

In her dissenting opinion, Sereno said the SC voted 7-6 on Nov. 18, 2011 that the TRO, being conditional, was not yet effective due to the failure of the Arroyos to meet one of the three conditions that ordered them to assign a common counsel to receive court summons.

But SC spokesman Midas Marquez supposedly misled the public when he announced in a press conference on Nov. 18 that the SC voted 8-5 to affirm that the TRO was already in effect.

“But, again, this is an issue where the appearance of Justice Sereno will be objected to, we understand, by the defense. But we hope that the Senate impeachment court will look into the whole idea of the impeachment court as an avenue for the truth to come out – of course, subject to their regulations. So it is something that we would hope that Justice Sereno would be able to testify to and shed (light on) the truth in that TRO deliberations in the Supreme Court,” Lacierda said.

Meanwhile, the defense panel will no longer present as witnesses Associate Justices Presbitero Velasco, Arturo Brion, Roberto Abad and Marquez.

Defense spokesman Rico Paolo Quicho said they respect the decision of the impeachment court not to subpoena any member of the high court.

Senator-judges ruled that the high court is a co-equal branch of the Senate and that it cannot compel justices to attend the proceedings.

Impeachment surveys

Tranquil Salvador, a defense spokesman, urged the public not to be persuaded by surveys on the impeachment of Corona.

He said only the senator-judges, who are elected officials, will decide on the case of Corona based on the evidences presented before the impeachment court.

Salvador made the appeal amid reports that student leaders of the University of the Philippines-Diliman have launched a survey to find out the students’ insights on the ongoing impeachment trial. - With Aurea Calica