Defense's turn to present evidence, witnesses

MANILA, Philippines - It is now the turn of the defense lawyers of Chief Justice Renato Corona to present their own evidence to convince 23 senators, sitting as impeachment court judges, to absolve the embattled magistrate.

Defense spokesman, lawyer Tranquil Salvador III, said they will now be given the chance to contest the pieces of evidence presented by the prosecution on Articles 2, 3, and 7 of the impeachment complaint against Corona.

"The defense will also be given an opportunity to file our objections or comments to such exhibits. The (Senate impeachment) Court will have to then rule on whether or not some or all of those exhibits are admissible," Salvador said.

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. formally manifested before the end of the 25th day of the impeachment trial yesterday that they are withdrawing Articles 1, 4, 5, 6 and 8. The prosecution will not rely on only the three charges to convict Corona.

Tupas said the prosecution has presented 17 witnesses for Article 2, one witness for Article 3 and seven witnesses for Article 7 for a total of 25 witnesses.

The prosecution has marked 166 documents for Article 2, another 16 for Article 3 and 65 for Article 7 for a total of 397.

Tupas said their presentation for Articles 3 and 7 already proved Corona was guilty of betrayal of public trust.

For Article 2, Tupas said they have shown the chief magistrate was guilty of both betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.

One of the allegations in the articles of impeachment submitted to the Senate impeachment court is Corona's alleged dishonesty in filing his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net worth.

The prosecution presented to the court peso bank accounts of Corona, which indicated that the magistrate failed to fully disclose his wealth in his SALN.

Salvador said they would have 10 days to go over the pieces of documentary evidence submitted by the prosecution.

"A period of 10 days may be needed for this aspect of the trial and then we, the defense, will start presenting our evidence," he said.

For his part, lawyer Rico Quicho, another defense spokesperson, claimed that the termination by the prosecution panel of its presentation of evidence and witnesses only proves that it has a weak complaint against the Chief Justice.

"It further strengthened our view that the prosecution actually had no evidence from the start which they only gathered during the trial itself to cover only 3 articles," Quicho said.

16 guilty votes

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, acting as presiding judge of the impeachment court, said in a radio interview that all 23 senators will vote on each of the three articles of impeachment right after the presentation of the defense and the rebuttal evidence of the prosecution have been concluded.

He said that after the Defense's presentation of their own witnesses and evidence, the prosecution will be given another chance for rebuttal.

He said that the senators will vote on the three articles of impeachment once "the case is already submitted."

"Ibig sabihin tapos na 'yung depensa na magpresenta ng ebidensiya at wala nang maipepresentang rebuttal evidence 'yung prosecution," Enrile said.

On the day of the voting, Enrile said that the defense and the prosecution may be given one hour each to reiterate their arguments on the case.

"Pagkatapos noon, botohan. Wala nang isusulat na desisyon," he said. "Bawat isa ay huhusgahan 'yung nasasakdal. Bawat isang senador. Bibilangin kung ilan 'yung boboto ng guilty sa nasasakdal at ilan ang boboto ng not guilty."

Enrile said that the prosecution needs to get 16 guilty votes from the impeachment court to convict Corona.

"Kahit may bakante, 16 pa rin. Hindi mababago 'yun," Enrile said.

The veteran senator said that the Senate will try to finish the impeachment trial before Congress suspends sessions on March 23. with Angelo L. Gutierrez