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Meet the Corona defense team
Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona had initially kept mum about the composition of his legal team in his upcoming impeachment trial. Some of the names were revealed not in a formal announcement but through the counter-affidavit the Corona camp filed in response to the impeachment complaint.
With the exception of lead counsel and former justice Serafin Cuevas, Supreme Court spokesman Midas Marquez earlier said that the lawyers Corona enlisted "volunteered" to be part of the team free of charge. (But the wise will not wonder why any lawyer would volunteer to do this favor for a Chief Justice)
Former Court of Appeals Justice Hector Hofilena and lawyer Ernesto Francisco were earlier reported as being part of the team. However, Hofilena ultimately decided to back out because his son works for a firm of one of the House prosecutors. Francisco meanwhile officialy resigned from the team without indicating a reason.
The following are the members of Corona's legal team that have so far been revealed to the public:
CORONA DEFENSE TEAM
SERAFIN CUEVAS - former Supreme Court Associate Justice from 1984 to 1986 during the Marcos regime
- served as Justice secretary in former President Joseph Estrada's administration
- became a defense lawyer in Estrada's plunder trial from 2001 to 2007
- was supposed to be the lead defense counsel for Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, until the latter's resignation in April last year
- lawyer for Iglesia ni Cristo and former chairman of INC's New Era University
- taught law at the University of the Philippines and the Far Eastern University
EDUARDO DE LOS ANGELES - former dean of the Ateneo College of Law
- a private prosecutor in Estrada's impeachment trial
- Corona's fraternity brother (Fraternal Order of Utopia) at the Ateneo
JOSE ROY III - former dean of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila
- graduate of Ateneo law school
- commissioner and executive director of the Preparatory Commission on Constitutional Reforms (PCCR), formed by Estrada in 1998 and tasked to study needed changes in the Constitution
JACINTO JIMENEZ - teaches law at the University of Santo Tomas and the Ateneo
- graduated with a bachelor's degree and a law degree both from the Ateneo de Manila Univeristy
- third placer in the 1968 Bar Exams
- fields of expertise include intellectual property, insurance and commercial laws, and political law.
DENNIS MANALO - a member of the Siguion Reyna Montecillo & Ongsiako law office
- a graduate of management at the Ateneo de Manila University in 1991
- specializes in litigation and labor law
- taught civil and criminal law at the Lyceum College of the Philippines from 2003 to 2004
RAMON ESGUERRA - former Justice undersecretary
- a member of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines
- heads his own law office
TRANQUIL SALVADOR - former law dean at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay
- currently teaches at the respective law schools of the University of the Philippines and the Ateneo de Manila University
- a former president of the Quezon City chapter of the IBP
KAREN JIMENO - studied at the University of the Philippines
- earned a masters degree in law from Harvard University
- has recently resigned from the Quisumbing, Torres, Evangelista Law Offices
