Day 3: Highlights of Corona impeachment trial at the Senate 

Call to order  

• Wednesday’s session begins at 2:05 pm with a roll call.
• Senators Loren Legarda and Miriam Defensor-Santiago are absent.

  Re-ordering of articles of impeachment  

• House lead prosecutor Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. informed the impeachment court that the prosecution panel will first tackle article II, which deals with Chief Justice Renato Corona’s supposed nondisclosure of his statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) from 2002 until 2011.
• Next, the prosecutors will present evidence to support allegations under Article I, which accuses Corona of partiality and subservience in cases involving the administration of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, who had appointed him as chief justice.
• The third to be tackled will be Article VII, which deals with alleged irregularities in granting a temporary restraining order to Arroyo last November.

   SC Clerk of Court refuses to submit SALNs of Corona  

• The prosecution panel presented as its first witness SC Clerk of Court Enriqueta Esguerra-Vidal. Private prosecutor Mario Bautista conducted the questioning of the witness.
• Vidal said the Justices submit their SALNs to the Clerk of Court every year before April 30. However, she said her office did not keep a logbook of all the SALNs filed.
• Initially, Vidal refused to produce Corona’s SALNs, saying the documents are kept in a filing cabinet in the office of the Clerk of Court. Vidal said only she and her Deputy Clerk of Court had the keys to the cabinet.
• Vidal said the impeachment court’s subpoena for her to produce the SALNs “partakes of a request of the SALN.” She said a resolution issued by the SC en banc in 1989 restricted her from releasing the SALNs without authorization from the high court.
• Since 1989, there have been less than ten requests to see the SALNs of justices and none have been granted, Vidal said. She added that as Clerk of Court, she always includes requests for the SALNs in the SC’s agenda for the approval of the justices.

  Tug-of-war on submission of Corona’s SALNs  

• Senator-judge Franklin Drilon asked Vidal if she would produce the SALNs in case the SC would deny the “request” of the Senate subpoena. Vidal said she would if the impeachment court required her to, adding that she believes the SC would grant the request and she simply needed time to get the high court’s approval.

• Upon the Presiding Officer’s inquiry, Vidal admitted that she had brought Corona’s SALNs with her. However, producing Corona’s SALNs placed her in a quandary: although she is covered by the rules of the impeachment court, she is also covered by the rules in the SC en banc resolution.

• Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano told Vidal that the subpoena is not a request but an order of the Impeachment Court.

• Senator-judge Francis Pangilinan said it is the duty of the Impeachment Court to avoid delays. He added that seeking the Supreme Court’s authorization to release Corona’s SALNs would diminish the impeachment court’s authority.

• Senator-judge Teofisto Guingona said that although the judiciary is co-equal to the legislature and the Senate is but half of a bicameral Congress, the Senate was now sitting as an impeachment Court in the trial of the chief justice.

• Senator-judge Joker Arroyo warned that producing Corona’s SALNs during the session would trigger a constitutional crisis between the SC and the Senate sitting as the Impeachment Court. He asked that Vidal be given just one more day to get the clearance of the SC.

  SC clerk of court finally surrenders SALNs  

• Senator-judge Panfilo Lacson was about to have the matter put to a vote, but the Presiding officer ruled that Vidal must submit the SALNs. Presiding Officer Enrile pointed out to Vidal that the subpoena was addressed to her and not to the Supreme Court.
• The Presiding Officer instructed lead defense counsel Serafin Cuevas to ask his client, CJ Corona, to make sure that Vidal would not be sanctioned for releasing his SALNs to comply with the Senate subpoena.
• Vidal finally complied and turned over Corona’s SALNs to the Senate secretariat. The House prosecution panel, then Corona’s defense team, marked Corona’s SALNs as evidence.

  No public disclosure of Corona’s SALNs as SC Justice  

• In reply to a query from defense counsel Cuevas, Vidal agreed that Corona had substantially complied with the constitutional provision on SALNs by regularly filing the required document.
• However, when asked by Pangilinan if there was ever any public disclosure of Corona’s SALNs, Vidal replied in the negative. Escudero pointed out that the second article of impeachment states failure to disclose the SALNs.

  Malacañang Records Officer submits Corona's previous SALNs  

• The House prosecution panel called as its second witness Malacañang Records Office chief Marianito Dimaandal. He was examined by private prosecutor Jose Justiniano, who said Corona's 1992-2002 SALNs would show a pattern in the chief justice’s alleged amassing of wealth.
• The Presiding Officer noted Corona’s defense team’s objection to Dimaandal as a prosecution witness. On cross-examination by defense counsel Cuevas, Dimaandal admitted that he cannot attest to the accuracy of the entries in Corona’s SALNs .
• Dimaandal produced Corona’s SALNs during the years that Corona had worked in Malacañang. The marking of the SALNs was scheduled at 10 am Thursday, January 19, before the resumption of the trial.

  Adjournment   At 7:09 pm, the trial was adjourned until 2 pm Thursday.   - Marlon Anthony R. Tonson/YA, GMA News   We also recommend: Day 2: Highlights of the Corona impeachment trial   Day 1: Highlights of the Corona impeachment trial The Corona impeachment trial: A GMA News primer