Defense shrugs off poll result on Corona guilt

The counsel for impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona is unfazed by the Pulse Asia survey showing 47 percent of respondents believe the chief magistrate should be declared guilty in the ongoing trial.   In a chance interview with reporters Tuesday, defense spokesman Jose Roy III said they do not bother themselves much about surveys, which he said have become "so confusing" nowadays.   Roy said no matter what the surveys show, the outcome of the two-month-old impeachment trial will solely depend on evidence presented in court. "All that matters are inside the session hall... As far as we are concerned, we're looking at the law and evidence," he said.   "At the end of the day, as long as credible ang evidence mo, paniniwalaan iyon. And I think we have slowly but surely established that there are many things about his case that should not have been allowed in the first place," he added.   The defense has long argued that the impeachment complaint filed against Corona in December last year was "defective" and should be declared "null and void" because it allegedly did not go through proper verification process in the House of Representatives.   A total of 188 House members signed the complaint, but Corona's camp insisted that the complaint was "railroaded" and that the signatories were not given enough time to read the entire complaint.   "With little bits and pieces, binubuo namin ang building blocks... ginagawa namin ang reconstruction one at a time," said Roy.   The defense is on its second week of presenting evidence and has so far presented around 10 witnesses.   Senator-judges impartiality   Roy said the defense team remains confident about the senator-judges' independence and impartiality.   "I am not one of those who will believe that the senators are that superficial. I believe they will stand by their oath to give impartial justice and stand by the constitution," said Roy, who weeks ago was cited for contempt by the Senate impeachment court for announcing at a press conference in February that Malacañang was trying to bribe some senators to defy the Supreme Court decision against opening of dollar accounts allegedly owned by Corona.   Roy remained confident that if ever the surveys would affect the senator-judges' judgment in the trial, it would only be "marginal."   "Eventually they will base their votes on what they see in court... There may be those whose minds have been closed but their oath is to render impartial justice for the truth and for the Constitutional law of the Philippines," he said. - KBK, GMA News