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Day 14: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate

February 8, 2012 6:51pm
(Updated 1 p.m. 9 February)

Call to Order
  • At 2:14 p.m., the trial was resumed.
  • Senator-judge Miriam Defensor-Santiago was absent.
 
Impeachment court and high court ‘not co-equal branches’
 
  • Senator-judge Teofisto Guingona III appealed to the Supreme Court to help in the “quest for the truth” and respect the impeachment court’s independence in trying the case against Chief Justice Renato Corona.
  • With the Senate exercising its “special judicial function” and the senators sitting as judges in an “independent” impeachment court, the upper chamber and the high court “are not co-equal branches,” Guingona said.
 
Fariñas apologizes for earlier statements
 
  • Senator-judge Pia Cayetano took exception to the remark of House deputy lead prosecutor Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas on Tuesday that both houses of Congress were “working together to oust Corona.” She said senator-judges work separately from the House prosecutors and their roles are well-defined: some members of the House of Representatives are tasked to prosecute the case while the senators are tasked to hear and decide the case.
  • The presiding officer, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, warned both the prosecution and defense camps to “think of what they say” before the impeachment court. He stressed that the senator-judges “are not partisan” nor “combatants” but rather “the referees between prosecution and the defense.”
  • Fariñas apologized for his earlier remarks and said he respects all the senator-judges. As regards his mentioning the name of Senator-judge Ramon Bong Revilla Jr., Fariñas said he was merely trying to illustrate how even the senator who got the most number of votes in the last elections can himself be removed should the other senators find him guilty of "disorderly behavior". He explained that he never implied Revilla was disorderly or had to removed. Revilla accepted Fariñas’ apology.
 
Senate pulls all stops to see Corona’s bank records

  • Senator-judge Vicente Sotto III announced that during the morning caucus, the Senate decided to affirm its resolution granting the prosecution’s request to subpoena officials and documents from banks where Corona supposedly owns accounts, so that the prosecution can support their accusation that Corona had not properly declared his assets in his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs). 
  • During the trial, the senators-judges retired in caucus to discuss the defense camp’s motion to “delay the enforcement of the subpoenas until the SC [Supreme Court] has had ample opportunity to act” on Corona’s petition before the SC to stop the impeachment trial. His counsels argued that the Senate had committed grave abuse of discretion when it subpoenaed Corona’s bank records.
  • After the caucus, Sotto announced that a majority of the members of the impeachment court voted to deny the defense camp’s motion to defer the proceedings in view of Corona’s petition before the SC.
  
Did FASAP single out Corona?
 
  • The Senate also denied the defense camp’s motion to stop the presentation of evidence on the SC decision “flip-flopping” on the case of the Flight Attendants’ and Stewards’ Association of the Philippines (FASAP) against Philippine Airlines (PAL).
  • On cross-examination, lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas asked FASAP President Roberto Anduiza why he blames Corona for the SC’s recall of the ruling on their labor case. Anduiza replied that according to FASAP’s lawyer, Corona “took no part” in the labor case ruling but “participated in the voting” of the recall order.
  • Cuevas said the recall order in the SC resolution taking back the “final entry of judgment” on the dismissal of PAL’s second motion for reconsideration was an “administrative matter” and does not revoke the SC’s original decision in the labor case, which means that “the multi-million peso award to FASAP members” still stands.
  • Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano asked Anduiza why FASAP singled out Corona, considering that other SC justices also voted for the recall of the ruling. Anduiza replied that if “needed” then the other justices should also be held accountable.
  • When senator-judge Loren Legarda said the prosecution has yet to establish the “link and relevance” between Article III which accused Corona of lack of probity and the letters written by PAL lawyer Estelito Mendoza that prompted the re-opening of the FASAP-PAL case, House prosecutor Rep. Arlene Bag-ao said more witnesses would be presented to show "the bigger picture" on Corona’s supposed hand in the recall order.
  • Bag-ao said several FASAP members had also written letters but these were “treated differently” by the high court, which required FASAP to furnish PAL copies of their letters. In contrast, FASAP was not given copies of any of the four letters written by Atty. Mendoza.
  • In response to a query from Enrile, Anduiza said the letters from FASAP were written by members who had “grown impatient” over the 13-year-old labor case. Senator-judge Aquilino Pimentel III asked if FASAP considers as improper only the letters written by the PAL lawyer and not the ones written by its members. Anduiza said there was “nothing wrong” about writing letters, but he understood that parties in the case can submit “only motions or pleadings” to the SC for consideration.

PSBank President testifies despite pending SC petition

  • Cuevas objected to the prosecution’s presentation of a witness from the Philippine Savings Bank (PSBank), citing the defense camp’s petition to stop the impeachment proceedings as well as the bank’s petition to quash the subpoenas from the Senate, which are still pending before the Supreme Court.
  • House lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. Tupas countered that the Senate had junked the defense’s motion for deferment and officials from PSBank and the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) are already in the Senate to testify in compliance with the subpoenas issued to them.
  • The presiding officer ruled that the bank officials be presented as witnesses.
  • PSBank President Pascual Garcia III presented bank certifications on five peso-denominated accounts opened by Corona from 2007 to 2010.
    • Corona’s first bank account had P5,018,255.26 at the end of 2007, but this was already closed as of 2008.
    • Corona opened a second account in 2008 and third account in 2009, but both were closed.
    • Corona’s fourth account had a balance of P7,148,238.83 at the end of 2010.
    • Corona’s fifth account had contained P8.5 million at the end of 2009, and had a balance of P12,580,000 at the end of 2010.
  • Private prosecutor Demetrio Custodio informed the impeachment court that Garcia had “declined” to pre-mark the bank documents earlier that day, so this was the first time the prosecution had seen the documents.

PSBank refuses to divulge Corona’s dollar accounts

  • Garcia said his legal counsels advised him that although peso accounts are exempted from the Bank Secrecy Law in impeachment cases, he cannot divulge the contents of Corona’s five dollar-denominated accounts because that would be a violation of the Foreign Currency Deposit Act.
  • Responding to Senator-judge Ralph Recto, Garcia explained that although a subpoena was issued to one of his bank managers, he made the “personal decision” to come to the Senate without the documents on Corona’s dollar accounts. Garcia said any liability for not divulging the dollar accounts should fall on him and not his employees because he is the bank’s president.
  • Drilon asked the impeachment court to order Garcia to explain why he should not be cited in contempt for refusing to bring the subpoenaed documents.
  • Senator-judge Joker Arroyo countered that the impeachment court should not be quick to “crucify” Garcia who had come “in good faith” but now runs the risk of being held criminally liable if he divulges Corona’s dollar accounts. He recalled a similar incident during the impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada when the impeachment court did not cite for contempt the CitiBank official who had refused to divulge Estrada’s supposed dollar accounts.
  • The presiding officer ordered Garcia to submit by noon Thursday a written explanation on his refusal to bring Corona’s dollar account records.
  • Senator-judge Sergio Osmeña III suggested that the Senate issue a subpoena instead to the one-man executive committee of PSBank’s board – whom he described as essentially Garcia’s “boss” – to produce the bank documents on Corona’s dollar accounts. After going on a short recess, the court did not take up Osmeña’s suggestion again.
 
Senate won’t subpoena 4 SC justices
 
  • The Senate Secretary, as clerk of the impeachment court, read the Senate resolution denying the prosecution’s request to subpoena four Supreme Court justices – Presbitero Velasco, Martin Villarama Jr., Bienvenido Reyes, and Ma. Lourdes Sereno – to testify on Article III out of respect for the “confidentiality of court sessions.”
  • The resolution added that summoning the four SC justices would be “transgressing the basic principle of separation of powers,” and the Senate was “not ready to accept the prosecution’s contention” that the principle of separation of powers among the three branches of government does not apply to the impeachment trial. “Whether performing legislative functions or sitting as an impeachment court, the Senate is not insulated from the principle of separation of powers,” stated the resolution.
  • Senator-judges Pimentel, Guingona, and Pia Cayetano said they would file separate concurring opinions, as they took exception to the resolution’s mention of the impeachment court being “co-equal” to the Supreme Court. Senator-judge Pangilinan also said he would file a separate opinion.
 
Adjournment
 
  • At 7:16 p.m., the trial was adjourned.
  • The trial will resume at 2 p.m. Thursday.
  
— Marlon Anthony Tonson/YA/ELR, GMA News
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