Senate declares Ombudsman as hostile witness in Corona trial

The Senate impeachment court on Monday declared Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales as a hostile witness in the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

 

“The fact that she is investigating the respondent [Corona], this court will consider her as [an] adverse witness,” Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who presides over the trial, ruled.

 

According to Rule 132, Section 12 of the Rules of Court, a witness may be classified as hostile “upon adequate showing of his adverse interest, unjustified reluctance to testify, or his having misled the party into calling him to the witness stand.”

 

Just before Enrile’s ruling, Carpio-Morales said she cannot be considered adverse to Corona, her former colleague at the Supreme Court (SC), since she is just conducting a “case build-up” following complaints on Corona’s assets that her office received.

 

“That is my mandate. That does not make me adverse to the respondent. I just had to discharge my mandate,” the Ombudsman said. AMLC assistance

 

She added that she asked the assistance of the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to look into Corona’s bank accounts.

 

“I referred the complaint to the AMLC. I thought the charges included were within jurisdiction of AMLC and then later I formed a panel of investigators,” she said.

 

“Eventually, I wrote the AMLC seeking assistance towards the determination of the truth of charges and then I got report form panel recommending that we should write chief justice,” she added.

 

After being declared as hostile witness, Carpio-Morales asserted that she is mandated by the 1987 Constitution and the Ombudsman Law (Republic Act 6770) to look into Corona’s assets.

 

Two weeks ago, the Ombudsman asked Corona to explain in writing how he managed to accumulate $10 million in various bank accounts despite his modest government pay. 

 

Corona’s camp, however, maintained that the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction over the chief justice, since he is an impeachable official that can only be removed from office by Congress. The chief justice has also denied that he has $10 million under his name. — RSJ, GMA News