DUCKY PAREDES
‘For Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, no amount of ‘auditing trickery or legal acrobatics’ can sweep under the rug the P55.8 million discrepancy in real property, cash and investments that Corona did not declare in his 2010 SALN.’
AFTER a little over a month of the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Renato Corona, the prosecution has decided to drop five of the eight articles in the impeachment complaint and, with just three articles done, has rested its case. Are they tired of being verbally abused by the harridan or are they convinced that they have presented such proof that there is no longer any doubt that they have done their job – Chief Justice Renato Corona will be successfully impeached and removed from office?
The House prosecution panel was universally criticized as being an amateur bunch and its complaint not "well-crafted." The prosecution panel itself, composed of lawmakers with limited litigation experience, found themselves at the receiving end of brickbats for lack of preparation, unreasonable number of witnesses, and, when they were able to produce them -- questionable bank records.
But to their credit, despite themselves, the evidence they unearthed, particularly with regard to Article 2 of the impeachment complaint, or the non-disclosure of Corona’s statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN), yielded more than sufficient evidence that, indeed, the targeted Chief Justice has amassed hidden wealth over the past decade as a member and later head of the Supreme Court.
For Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, no amount of "auditing trickery or legal acrobatics" can sweep under the rug the P55.8 million discrepancy in real property, cash and investments that Corona did not declare in his 2010 SALN.
"There are now at least 55 million reasons for the Senate impeachment court to convict Corona on charges of doctoring his SALN and even without the court opening his dollar accounts," he says.
The lawmaker, who is also an internationally recognized development expert, explained that the P55.8 million represented the discrepancy between the P22.9 million in net worth declared by Corona in his 2010 SALN as filed on April 29, 2011, and Corona’s "true but hidden net worth" of at least P78.8 million.
Bello pointed out that Corona’s "true but hidden net worth" could be culled "even by a fourth-grader doing basic arithmetic" based on the figures and testimony made before the Senate impeachment court by various registers of deeds, bank officials and condominium developers.
Faced with "smoking gun" evidence, the defense has tried to drag down the impeachment proceedings by raising every legal technicality in the book to stonewall the disclosure of the truth.
The defense even attempted (and will probably do so again when it has the full attention of the Court in the next few weeks) to have the entire body of evidence revealed under Article 2 deleted or erased for the reason that the bank records presented by the prosecution are "fruit of the poisoned tree", that is, illegally obtained as the country’s banking laws provide for strict confidentiality.
This is what Corona used to prevent the opening of his dollar accounts, one of which, the prosecution claims, had an initial deposit of $700,000, or P38 million at the 2008 dollar-peso exchange rate. But the SC TRO on his dollar accounts has only whetted the appetite of the public for the whole truth to come out. If Corona has at least P55 million in undeclared assets in his SALNs, how much more in dollars is he hiding?
The defense strategy of questioning every move of the prosecution team has apparently backfired on them. They thought that for as long as they delayed the proceedings, the people would lose interest. And if people lose interest, then they can resort to all sorts of maneuvers to swing the tide in their favor.
Corona was pathetic, when he invited the young who passed the BAR exams to serve as his volunteer lawyers, the two top finishers, his fellow Ateneo law alumni, told the TV audience that this was the last thing on their minds at this point. Maybe, there’s hope for reforms in the judicial system with a new cadre of young and idealistic lawyers wanting a change for the better.
Of course, no one really knows how the Senate will vote. All Corona needs is seven out of the 23 Senate votes and two Senator-lawyers have already expressed their doubts over whether wrong filings of his SALNs are grievous enough to warrant a Chief Justice’s being booted out.
Of course, an impeachment is more of a political process than it is judicial. In that sense, the political decision has already been rendered. In the public mind; Corona has been found wanting and lying. His one hope would have been his promise to tell all and explain himself. Now, his defense team has declared that, no, the Chief Justice will not face the impeachment court! What more is there to be done?
Hopefully, Corona’s removal will pave the way for a top-to-bottom cleansing of our clearly overly corrupt judiciary.
Why does it take our courts forever to decide on cases? Take the case of a friend who was my stockbroker. Rody Cruz sold P300,000 of my shares and millions more, from other clients. Cruz used the money for himself! The case is now on its second year and there is still no end in sight. How can a justice system that cannot give a victim justice be any good?
We have letters: "First, this supposed brouhaha of INC prayer rally tied with Corona impeachment is another invention of irresponsible journalism.
"Thank you for articulating the need to also discipline Merriam. I just realize how lucky I am for the privilege of turning off my TV and radio whenever Merriam takes the podium.
"The problem with the rest of the senators is that they are condoning, approving, even ministering to her as if saying everything you said is okay with us. I just wonder what would happen to the Philippines had she became the president in 1992. It is very clear that the strategy of those who wanted to absolve Corona is to shame the prosecution, portray they are weak and irresponsible, unprepared and amateur.
"Joker, Bongbong and Merriam are just looking for that very small hole where they can justify the non-guilty vote. I believe these three, like most of those supporting the exoneration, are not fans or followers of Corona. They just hate Noynoy for whatever reason. Bongbong for failing to bury his father at the Libingan ng mga Bayani." – EJ Flores, Las Piñas
"Time has come for congress to act! Merriam with her antics will put the Philippines in bad light! Will the House of Representatives simply allow her to destroy our good name in the International Criminal Court? Won’t it be proper to recall RP’s recommendation for her as judge to that body?" – Rolando Ansay
Hopefully, God will continue to watch over the Philippines. Didn’t he have something to do with Miriam losing the presidency that, thanks to close to five million of our kababayan who voted for her in 1992, she almost won?
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