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Day 22 Corona trial highlights: De Lima takes witness stand

February 22, 2012 7:22pm
 
3 charges under Article III dropped
 
  • Prosecutor and Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao informed the impeachment court that they will no longer present evidence on paragraphs 3.4, 3.5 and 3.6 of Article III. These are the allegations that Chief Justice Renato Corona compromised his independence when his wife Cristina accepted an appointment to the Board of the John Hay Management Corporation, discussed a pending case with a litigant in connection with the Vizconde massacre case, and dismissed the Inter-petal Recreational Corporation case “under suspicious circumstances.”
  • However, Aggabao said the prosecution panel will retain the charge on the alleged flip-flopping of the Supreme Court on the case of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) against the Philippine Airlines.
  • Aggabao said they have concluded the presentation of evidence for Article III, a day after Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile prevented a witness from testifying on the benefits that Corona allegedly received from PAL while the company had pending cases with the high tribunal. The only witness presented earlier was FASAP president Robert Anduiza, who blamed Corona for the recall order on the union's 13-year-old labor dispute against PAL.

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima testifies on Article VII
 
  • The prosecution presented Justice Leila de Lima as its first witness for Article VII, which accuses Corona of “betrayal of public trust through his partiality in granting a temporary restraining order (TRO) in favor of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her husband Jose Miguel Arroyo in order for them to escape prosecution.”
  • Rep. Neri Colmenares, the prosecutor in charge of the Article VII, accused Corona of providing information to SC spokesperson Midas Marquez “that misled the public” about the TRO in favor of Arroyo, who is facing non-bailable electoral fraud charges.
  • Under the direct examination of Northern Samar Rep. Raul Daza, De Lima cited the dissenting opinion of Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno on the TRO, which showed that the chief magistrate tried to approach Associate Justice Presbitero Velasco and requested him not to promulgate the dissenting opinions.
  • De Lima said she issued at least three watch list orders against Mrs. Arroyo, who sent her three separate letters in September and October last year requesting the issuance of an allow departure order. After obtaining the opinion of Health Secretary Enrique Ona that Mrs. Arroyo’s condition was not life-threatening, De Lima said she denied the requests.
  • The Justice Secretary said she “doubted Mrs. Arroyo's real reason for leaving the country” after finding out that the former president was also scheduled to attend conferences in the United States and Switzerland and intended to bring at least 14 people during her trip abroad.

Miriam supports Enrile
 
  • At the start of Wednesday's proceedings, Senator-judge Miriam Defensor Santiago stood up to express support for Enrile's ruling on Tuesday to prevent the testimony of a PAL executive regarding Corona’s alleged benefits from the company.
  • Without naming names, Santiago also criticized trial participants who are “singing a false note” and stressed the primacy of a person's right to equal protection of the law and due process.
  • She left the session early after feeling dizzy due to her chronic fatigue syndrome, which she had earlier said could be attributed to a hereditary heart condition.

- Reported by Kimberly Jane Tan, Andreo Calonzo, and Mark Merueñas/YA, GMA News
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