Rules allow defense to subpoena De Lima as hostile witness

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate impeachment court ruled yesterday to allow the defense panel to compel Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to appear and testify again in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The defense team sought to subpoena de Lima as a hostile witness, which means she can be asked leading questions.

De Lima testified on the Supreme Court (SC)’s temporary restraining order allowing former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to leave the country last year, which the executive branch defied.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said de Lima’s appearance before the impeachment court was for the prosecution. He said the defense should also be afforded compulsory rights to call De Lima.

“Although she was presented by the prosecution and she was subjected to cross examination, the appearance of the Secretary of Justice then was not at the behest of the defense so therefore given the fact that the respondent is entitled to compulsory process…the motion to quash is denied,” Enrile said during Day 35 of the impeachment trial.

In its March 27 ruling, the Senate impeachment court said, “In the interest of justice and fair play, counsel for Chief Justice Corona should be similarly afforded the opportunity to raise direct examination questions in defense of their client, just as the House panel were afforded the same opportunity to profound direct examination questions to her.”

De Lima, in her letter to Enrile last March 22, requested that her further appearance in the court be dispensed with since the matters she is being asked to testify on by the defense have already been covered by her direct testimony when she appeared as direct witness for the prosecution or such matter should have been brought up by the defense during the cross examination.

Last week, the prosecution panel filed a motion to quash the subpoena on De Lima, saying that the defense had previously been afforded the chance during the cross examination.

The House prosecutors said “to recall De Lima will be violative of her rights and would be unfair to the prosecution and the court as it will unduly lengthen the proceedings.”

Meanwhile, the defense has dispensed with its request to subpoena Malou Mangahas and other journalists of the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) to testify on the sStatements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of some government officials.

The defense said it may also “forego” the testimonies of spouses Rodel and Amelia Rivera, whom Cristina Corona, wife of the Chief Justice, sold her Ayala Heights property to in March 2010.

The couple asked the court that they be excused from attending the hearings from May 5 to 27 in view of their trip to the US, which had been long scheduled before they received the subpoena.

“If they will not be available by the time granted by this honorable court we may dispense with their testimony and present somebody else who will testify in the same subject matter,” defense lead counsel Serafin Cuevas said.