Prosecution won’t present Camp John Hay exec as witness in Corona trial

The House prosecution team will no longer present a Camp John Hay Management Corporation (JHMC) official as witness in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.   Lead prosecutor Niel Tupas Jr. informed the Senate impeachment court Tuesday that his team is permanently discharging JHMC corporate secretary Marissa Bondoc as witness in the trial.   “We feel that we don’t need her [Bondoc] anymore to take the witness stand because she has resigned already your honor from her post recently,” he said without elaborating.   Tupas said the prosecution team has already filed a formal motion on Bondoc’s dismissal last week.   Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile granted the prosecution’s motion.   Bondoc was supposed to testify on the appointment of Corona’s wife, Cristina, as a member of the JHMC board of directors.   Article III of the impeachment complaint accuses Corona of compromising his independence when he allowed his wife to accept the appointment made by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the JHMC board.   Corona, himself an Arroyo appointee, however, said in his reply to the impeachment complaint that his wife has the right to pursue her own career, and that the appointment came in 2002, even before his stint as chief justice. – Andreo C. Calonzo/KBK, GMA News