Corona family not fleeing Philippines - defense

MANILA, Philippines - The family of Chief Justice Renato Corona will not flee and seek asylum in another country where the Philippines has no extradition treaty with.

Lawyer Karen Jimeno, a spokesperson of Corona and his defense team, said in an interview with ABS-CBN News that Mrs. Corona assured that rumors that they are fleeing are not true.

“I don’t know what is the purpose of this rumor, but whatever it is, the simple answer to it is it is not true,” Jimeno said.

A text message which alleged that Mrs. Corona has booked a flight to Barcelona, Spain on May 19 (Saturday) has been circulating.

Jimeno said the defense panel has been working since Thursday evening to prepare Corona for his testimony at the Senate impeachment court on Tuesday next week.

“We are helping the Chief Justice to come up with a clear outline to proceed with his testimony,” Jimeno said.

Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, a member of the House of Representatives' prosecution panel, called the testimony and documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales to the impeachment court as “providential”.

Morales told the court that documents from the Anti-Money Laundering Council showed that Corona had “transactional balance” of $10 million in various bank accounts.

She had said that Corona had 82 accounts with a total of $12 million in deposits.

The defense panel was anticipating that Morales'testimony on the $10 million dollar deposits would turn out a dud, similar to the prosecution's allegations on Corona's supposed various properties.

“It was not planned. The defense brought the Ombudsman as hostile witness. It was really providential and the defense probably didn’t foresee that the Ombudsman used her power and tapped another government agency to help her in her investigation,” Fariñas said. - Cheryl M. Arcibal