Hamon ni Enrile sa prosecution: Hilingin ninyong ipatanggal ako impeachment trial

Hinamon ni Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile nitong Miyerkules ang prosecutors na kung hindi sila masaya sa kanyang pamumuno sa impeachment trial laban kay Chief Justice Renato Corona, hilingin na lamang nila ang kanyang "exclusion" sa paglilitis. "If they feel offended, then say so. Then they can ask for my exclusion," pahayag ni Enrile isang araw matapos niyang pagbawalang magtestimonya ang isang prosecution witness dahil, ayon sa kanya, walang kinalaman ang testimonya sa kaso. "I will gladly give it to them. I will gladly give it to somebody that will handle it. I don't want to be controlled by them. I'm not controlling them. I don't want them to control the way I preside," ani Enrile. Sa hiwalay na panayam, inihayag ni House Majority Leader Neptali Gonzales II na may karapatan pa rin naman ang public prosecutors na respetuhin sa pagpapatuloy ng paglilitis. “We agree to disagree, pero we have to maintain some modicum of respect. ‘Yan lang ang aming panawagan… Para na kaming hindi mga congressman nito,” aniya. Dagdag nito, dapat ibasura na lamang ng Senado ang reklamong impeachment na inihain ng Kamara laban kay Corona kung defective ang tingin nila dito. “Kung may pananaw sila na defective, eh ‘di nag-moro-moro lang pala tayo rito… Baka in the future, kahit na mayroon na kaming ebidensya, ang House mawalan na rin ng loob  na i-impose ang accountability na ipinagkaloob ng Constitution, simply because ganito kahigpit ang nangyayari sa Senate,” ani Gonzales. Inihayag naman ni House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. na nasaktan siya sa pagtrato ng Senado sa prosecution team matapos itong magdesisyong tanggihan ang dalawang testigo sa impeachment trial. Ayon kay Belmonte, “We are really hurt by the type of language used on our prosecutors, pero we will still pursue the case. We’re not going to make a big thing out of it knowing the situation is, sila [the senators] ang huwes.” Enrile: What parliamentary courtesy? Binale-wala naman ni Enrile ang panawagan sa Senado na bigyan ng parliamentary courtesy ang House prosecutors sa paglilitis. "What parliamentary courtesy? We are in a trial. They are here as trial lawyers. We're not acting as a Senate at the moment. We're acting as an impeachment court and they are prosecutors of the House of Representatives," aniya. "They're not here as barberos or barbers.  They're here as lawyers and I respect them as lawyers but they must show me as presiding officer that they know what they are doing," dagdag niya. Paliwanag naman ni Enrile, ang kanyang desisyon na pigilan ang pagtestigo ni Philippine Airlines vice president for sales Enrique Javier loob ng paglilitis ay dahil "unfair" umanong dagdagan ang charge sa Article of Impeachment sa punto ngayon ng paglilitis. Tetestigo dapat ni Javier sa umano'y benefits na nakuha ni Corona mula sa PAL habang mayroong nakabinbing kaso ang kumpanya sa Korte Suprema. "He [Corona] was not able to answer that in his answer,” ani Enrile. “How can he answer that did not exist in the pleading? We are trying a person to deprive him of his honor and dignity for a lifetime, demonize him, and totally destroy his life. Are they [prosecutors] taking this lightly?" Dagdag ni Enrile, wala umanong Senador ang tumutol sa kanyang naging desisyon. "I do not know of any... they could have disowned me if they wanted to. They could have objected and we could have divided the House. But I think they realized, too, the fairness demanded that I have to issue that ruling," ani Enrile. Pagsuporta ng mga senador kay Enrile Sang-ayon ang mga senador sa naging desisyon ni Enrile noong Martes. Sa katunayan, inihayag nina Senate Majority Floor Leader Vicente Sotto III at Senator Edgardo Angara ang kanilang suporta kay Enrile. "They are forgetting that in the impeachment court we are not senators. We are wearing a different hat.  We are the impeachment court, nakakalimutan nila ‘yun," ani Sotto.   "We must do our respective roles properly and correctly.  Tama si President Enrile, the people are expecting the highest standards of performance," ani Angara sa hiwalay na panayam. — Amanda Fernandez /LBG, GMA News