MANILA, Philippines - The defense panel will present as witnesses Chief Justice Renato Corona’s wife Cristina and three congressmen when the Senate impeachment trial resumes next week.
Corona’s lawyers said Mrs. Corona’s testimony will be used to debunk the claims of prosecutors that Corona violated public trust and the Constitution for failing to disclose some properties in his statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs) under Article 2 of the impeachment complaint.
“Mrs. Corona definitely will be presented,” lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas said yesterday, adding that she will testify on the “bank deposits and the aspect of the SALN.”
Sources said Mrs. Corona would be called to the witness stand prior to a possible appearance of the Chief Justice.
Cuevas told reporters that the defense would not allow the Chief Justice to take the witness stand unless the need arises.
“If there is no reason to present CJ Corona and there is no basis for his testimony, why would we present him?” Cuevas said in Filipino.
As lead counsel, he believes that the trial will be an “environment of hostility and adversity” for his client.
Taking a cue from Cuevas, defense spokesman Tranquil Salvador III explained that Mrs. Corona’s testimony would be vital in refuting accusations related to the bank deposits and property transactions.
“She will be the best person to explain all of these because it’s about the family funds of the Basa Guidote. She is more knowledgeable about the acquisition of the spouses and she knows the details of the transactions most especially the subject of the expropriations,” Salvador told The STAR.
According to Salvador, Mrs. Corona “is in the best position to know where the P34-million expropriations went to, how they got it, where they put it, and how they used it, when they borrowed it.”
Salvador hinted that the bulk of the bank accounts revealed during the trial were not placed in the Chief Justice’s SALNs because they were owned by the family corporation under Mrs. Corona’s management.
“Basa Guidote owns it so why should it be included (in CJ’s SALN)? The income of Basa Guidote is already included in their SALN,” Salvador said in Filipino.
Basa Guidote Enterprises Inc. is the family-owned corporation of the Chief Justice’s wife. The corporation was listed by Corona in his SALN, where he had liabilities through a cash advance of P11 million in 2004.
As reflected in his SALN, Corona’s liabilities or cash advance was reduced through the years, from P11 million to P10 million in 2005; P8 million in 2006; P6.5 million in 2007; P5 million in 2008; P3 million in 2009 and zero liabilities in his 2010 SALN.
During the early part of the trial, Cuevas showed a P34-million check issued in trust by the Manila government to Mrs. Corona, which was part of the expropriation proceedings for a Basa Guidote property in Manila.
Defective complaint
The defense also revealed that they would summon to the witness stand congressmen Toby Tiangco (Navotas); Hermilando Mandanas (Batangas); and Crispin Remulla (Cavite) to bolster the defense’s claims that the verified complaint was “defective” from the start.
Salvador explained that the three congressmen will “be able to establish in the first place that the complaint should have been dismissed on the outset.”
“(The verified complaint is) inherently defective, there was no proper verification, there were those who signed but weren’t able to read (the complaint),” Salvador explained.
Prosecution deputy chief Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, however, said that the lawmakers cannot be forced to testify in the trial.
The defense’s initial list included lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas, prosecutor spokesman Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. as possible witnesses in the trial.
“They were the ones who mentioned about lawyer-client privilege. How can we testify against our client? That is not possible,” Farinas said in Filipino.
Tupas added that Corona probably made the public interviews yesterday since he had to do something about the strong evidence presented by the prosecution against him.
Meanwhile, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile challenged the camp of Corona to prove to the court their claims that the bank accounts of the Chief Justice came from the income generated out of the P34-million expropriations from the corporation owned by his wife.
“Well, if she was the one who sold (it) then Mrs. Corona can testify, that it is a common property of Mrs. Corona and her relatives, undivided, and show why it should not be included in the SALN,” Enrile said.
Enrile explained that if the (undeclared) accounts were part of the family corporation of Corona’s wife, even though it is under his name the trust accounts should not be included in the SALN.
“Even then, that is in the nature of the trust account. That is my opinion, but I have to study this first,” he said.
Enrile refused to elaborate further on the merits of the case.
“When I say we cannot rush his guilt until we heard his side, simply means, we cannot render a judgment (based) on a one-sided trial. Otherwise this will result to a bill of attainder,” Enrile said.
A Bill of Attainder happens when Congress punishes a person either by legislation or by some legal act without a proper trial, which is unconstitutional, the Senate President said.
When asked to react on Corona’s claims that his alleged bank accounts were actually part of the proceeds from the income of Basa Guidote, Enrile said that it is Corona’s prerogative if he wants to be interviewed outside of the impeachment court.
“His statements outside the court are nothing. I cannot take that as evidence, it must be submitted to us under oath in the courtroom,” he stressed.