Palace mum on reported Iglesia lobbying for Corona acquittal

Malacañang on Saturday declined to comment on a newspaper report that the influential Iglesia ni Cristo is lobbying with senator judges for the acquittal of impeached Chief Justice Renato Corona. Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer was based mostly on supposed sources, adding it would be better if the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) replied to it. “Siguro hindi na tayo dapat magkumento doon. Unang basa ko sa article, sources ang sina-cite. It will be up to the INC to answer this particular write-up about actions supposedly attributed to them,” she said on government-run dzRB radio. “It’s from sources, we don’t want... unless it’s confirmed we’d rather not give a response,” she added. Valte declined to make further comments, pointing out it is hard to react especially now that the political environment is charged. “We will wait for their [INC’s] position if they will answer that query from the (Inquirer),” she said. On the other hand, she said it is up to the individual senator judges to react to the report, noting they have done so. She said the last time a senator judge took to the floor in reacting to newspaper reports was Edgardo Angara, the subject of a motion for inhibition as his son is with the prosecution side. The Inquirer story cited a “legislative source” who said the INC sent emissaries to work behind the scenes to try and sway senator-judges to acquit Corona. Corona is expected to take the witness stand when the impeachment trial resumes on Tuesday, May 22. The Inquirer report claimed the congressional source named the INC officials as Dan Orosa and Resty Lazaro, who it said had been doing the rounds of senators since Congress went on a Lenten break. It said Orosa is a high-ranking INC official while Lazaro is a lawyer for the religious group. Also, it said two other individuals, Manny Cuevas and Victor Cheng, helped out in the INC’s supposed pro-Corona offensive. But the report quoted its source as saying most of the senators rejected their feelers for a meeting, being wary of their motives. Cuevas, an INC member, is a brother of Serafin Cuevas, Corona’s chief defense lawyer. The PDI report said the primary targets of the approaches were allies of the United Nationalist Alliance (UNA) of Vice President Jejomar Binay and former President Joseph Estrada. — LBG, GMA News